Quote from: David on October 07, 2009, 11:34:09 AM
how to prevent an imported graphic of any sort from appearing elsewhere other than expected, and perhaps in knowing how to preset the size?

David,
Opening a new thread is an excellent idea. And please do post a sample page (or re-post the same one you did here) in the new thread, illustrating the problem.

Dan Millar has already succinctly summarized how MS Word works with embedded graphics in his posting, earlier in this thread: 

...the basic thing to keep in mind is that graphics in Word can be one of two types - floating or anchored. Anchored graphics can "lock" to a page position or page element - with options to run text around the item in different ways, while floating graphics move with the text they are inserted into. Double-clicking a graphic will open the properties editor where you can choose where and how to anchor a graphic.

In the new thread you open, we can go deeper into the MS Word Format Picture dialog and the Size and Layout sub-sections, if you desire.

At the end of the day, you'll have to make a decision whether to continue down the road of learning intimately the idiosyncracies of MS Word with regards to image placement, or whether to try other apps.  The good news is that there are many, many editors available for OS X, and some may indeed work more as you expect than MS Word when it comes to image placement. The bad news is that there are many, many editors available for OS X, and taking the time to try other editors will push out the finish date of your book!

Hey that sounds like yet another great new thread idea: Ask folks what their favourite word processors are and why!

Another problem:  I insert the character as suggested, and it appears in a Lucinda font.  The document is in Times New Roman.  I can't change back to that no matter what I try after insertion of the character, but must type ahead, select the text just typed, and only then change it.  This is not fun any more.  I might just go back to using the Word math editor and move stuff around in small increments as has been also suggested.  [Or, I might just do it the old fashioned way with pencil and paper, and hand it to a typist to hand to a typesetter.  All I want to do is the math.]

Just incidentally, I tried to insert a different graphic image today, a jpg geometric drawing, and as I attempted to make it smaller to fit, it jumped into the upper page as the page it was on disappeared, then it simply crashed and Word closed down.  Of course they asked me to send a report as if that would make a difference.  You just can't seem get away from Microsoft junk.  Sorry if this has been too much, I'm just too old and tired for this nonsense.

David.

Quote from: ben schmidt on October 07, 2009, 02:18:31 PM

...the basic thing to keep in mind is that graphics in Word can be one of two types - floating or anchored.

I think those particular terms are used in Pages, not in Word.  I saw no reference to "anchor" to a character, as a character, to a paragraph, or to a page.  Further, as I've recently found with other Apple software, when one tries to use theHelp option at the top, it references any and all files in the computer, not just those particular to this program.  That's a bust.

I feel I've taken too much of people's time right now trying to fix things form a distance, and realise full well how difficult that can be.  I'll chug along and come back if I get really stuck.  If you want to start a new thread on the pros and cons of the word processor, then go ahead.  I might slip back into using OpenOffice, the free great program I've used for a while on the PC.  I'll see if it will accept the file already started, and if not, will simply start again.

David.

Quote from: David on October 07, 2009, 02:37:00 PM

Quote from: ben schmidt on October 07, 2009, 02:18:31 PM

...the basic thing to keep in mind is that graphics in Word can be one of two types - floating or anchored.

I think those particular terms are used in Pages, not in Word.  I saw no reference to "anchor" to a character, as a character, to a paragraph, or to a page.

David, have you had a chance to follow Dan Millar's excellent advice to "Double-click a graphic [to] open the properties editor where you can choose where and how to anchor a graphic." When you do, you will see numerous options to horizontally and vertically align graphics to your choice of Page, Margin, Column, Margin, or paragraph elements. The term "anchor" even makes an appearance, but I wouldn't get hung up on a particular term. Dan was just conveying, in the absence of specific details of the problems you had, that the key concept "to keep in mind is that graphics in Word can be one of two types - floating or anchored. Anchored graphics can 'lock' to a page position or page element - with options to run text around the item in different ways, while floating graphics move with the text they are inserted into."

Great advice! Take a look at this dialog for example, and see if you don't agree:

• Double-click an image in your sample.doc file
• Click on the Layout button, in the dialog which opens
• Click on the button: Advanced...
• Check out all the layout options/li]
  

I'm no proponent of Microsoft Word as a example of either good GUI design or of how to implement a Mac application, but if you want to use MS Word, this is the interface it provides for positioning images.

Quote from: David on October 07, 2009, 02:37:00 PM
Further, as I've recently found with other Apple software, when one tries to use the Help option at the top, it references any and all files in the computer, not just those particular to this program.  That's a bust.

David, if you want the Help menu to restrict itself to searching entries only for the current application, just select the second menu item. It will be named with the name of the application you are in, followed by the word "Help". e.g. a menu item called "Word Help", "Safari Help", etc.  It's better implemented in applications from Apple, such as the "Safari Help", than it is in applications from Microsoft, but the Help contents are the responsibility of the company that writes each application, and so vary widely in the quality of their contents.

Quote from: David on October 07, 2009, 02:23:51 PM
Another problem:  I insert the character as suggested, and it appears in a Lucinda font.  The document is in Times New Roman.  

David, there's no need for you to change the typeface that the "angle" character appears in to Time New Roman, unless you want to. I find the "angle" symbol looks particularly nice in the typeface: Symbol.

I'm not able recreate difficulties in changing the typeface in which the "angle" character appears. For example, I follow the previous instructions to enable the Show Character Viewer menu item, then I insert the "angle" symbol into the sample Word document. And then I can highlight just that single "angle" character and select Format > Font... and I can change the font or size to pretty much whatever I like.

...ben

PS. Note that the "angle" character does not exist in all typefaces.

Sorry if I was not clear, Ben.  It is not the angle font, but what follows after that.  I insert the angle character as suggested, then keep on typing, and the typed material takes on the attributes of the angle font instead of continuing in Times New Roman, as with the preceding text.  It carries on not in TNM, but in Lucinda, the present default font of the angle character.  What I might like to know, if possible, is how to change the default font for the character permanently to whichever font I need from the large collection available, or at least semipermanently for this document.  Then I could have the angle and the text in the same font all along.  It would be a huge PIA to convert each one by selecting and reformatting every time, since there are a ton of them in a geometry text.

David.