saffronhare (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
saffronhare) wrote2010-12-10 04:46 pm
saffronhare) wrote2010-12-10 04:46 pm
geekbunny stumble
I've been working on "Alice's Super-Easy Christmas Letter Generator" this week and ran into some file compatibility stumbling blocks that I really ought to have anticipated.
It's a Word template, which I'd hoped won't be difficult to open or limiting to use. (Of course, if you're a Power User, then you probably don't need something like this anyway.) See, the objective is to provide a starting place that makes it easy to *create* a letter if you've never done one before, but also seeks to avoid some of the most common pitfalls like squeezing too much text onto the page to be readable. It is intentionally just one page, and uses only basic colors so it'll print and copy without too much margin for error.* I tried to include a few pointers for content as well.
I was prepared to discover and adjust for how very wonky the colors could look on other people's monitors. What I did not anticipate is that none of my test readers would be able to open the darn thing to let me know what they thought. Difficult to critique on content that way, yes?
::headdesk::
So. I can offer it as a Word template for anybody with Word 2007 or newer -- or the ability to translate in some way from that version -- but otherwise, I need to go back to the drawing board, so to speak. I've got some help on this matter here in the house. Just sharing the frustration and admitting I need help. Bleh.
It's a Word template, which I'd hoped won't be difficult to open or limiting to use. (Of course, if you're a Power User, then you probably don't need something like this anyway.) See, the objective is to provide a starting place that makes it easy to *create* a letter if you've never done one before, but also seeks to avoid some of the most common pitfalls like squeezing too much text onto the page to be readable. It is intentionally just one page, and uses only basic colors so it'll print and copy without too much margin for error.* I tried to include a few pointers for content as well.
I was prepared to discover and adjust for how very wonky the colors could look on other people's monitors. What I did not anticipate is that none of my test readers would be able to open the darn thing to let me know what they thought. Difficult to critique on content that way, yes?
::headdesk::
So. I can offer it as a Word template for anybody with Word 2007 or newer -- or the ability to translate in some way from that version -- but otherwise, I need to go back to the drawing board, so to speak. I've got some help on this matter here in the house. Just sharing the frustration and admitting I need help. Bleh.
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In fact, my 8th grade Keyboarding class spent one day this past week, looking at specialty templates, specifically family newsletters and label generators, and we discussed why and how such things are commonly used. We also talked about how to go about creating fancy borders, background colors and images, etc.
Of course, then they discovered the playground that is WordArt in MS Word...
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http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en
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