[Ham-Computers] Formatting Word pad Document

Tue Sep 21 21:04:17 EDT 2004

Thank you very much for the good instructions.		

it appears that Word Pad has a fixed default configuration that can not be
changed. At least not as far as I can determine.	

You can change the default settings, but 'only' for the current document. Once
you exit Word Pad, the original settings are back.	

You can create a document with the desired defaults and save it, load it each
time to have them. Annoying, but doable.	

Several have commented on the Word Pad default margins. Well, they are not the
same for different Windows OS. For instance, Windows 95b has left and right
margins of 1.25 inches, Windows 98a has left and right margins of 1.0 inches.
Windows XP HE has left and right margins of 1.25 inches, so I am told. I do not
have it to confirm it.	

I was a little surprised that the default location that Word Pad saves a file to
is the 'desktop'! Being a programmer from when Texas Instruments came out with
the 99/4 in 1980. A sixteen bit machine that was a decade ahead of its time.
Brilliant company, but poor at marketing. That's another story though!  	

I checked to see exactly where Word Pad was located on the hard drive. I found
it, all of one executable file. No default configuration or other files. Well
that does keep it simple!	

Now why you ask does the blind dude want to use Word Pad anyhow? Simply because
the blind dude is still in love with that girl he was too foolish not to marry
and is also still in love with DOS! I use Professional Write version 2.22, the
last version that was issued. It is a DOS word processing program. The screen
reading software for the blind and print handicapped (Before anyone gets upset
here, print handicapped is not a slam at sighted people, but a term that refers
to those who can see normally but have a neurological problem that prevents them
from being able to read normally.), works almost perfectly with DOS based
software. Tremendous flexibility and can be configured to match the screen
layouts with reasonable ease. This is not true for Windows! A totally different
system from the ASCII to the GUI. From characters with numeric values to
graphics to form the characters.   	

The DOS word processing software lets me do anything I want and be able to read
it, spell check it and manipulate it as a need may dictate. I can not do this
with any of the Windows based word processing programs from the simplistic Note
Pad to Word For Windows etc. 	

What I am trying to do here, and I may be wasting my time, is figure out a way
to take the file from the DOS word processing program saved as ASCII text, load
it into Word Pad and then convert it to a Word pad document format. Now I can do
the reverse, that is, I can save a Word Pad document out as MS DOS text.	

I have a large number of documents I need to convert to a format compatible with
Word Pad or MS Word. I am hoping there is a practical alternative besides having
to type them into Word Pad character by character.There may not be.	

Gentlemen, ladies too if we have any among our ranks, any suggestions?

Thank you. 	

Duane W8DBF	

----------
From: Rolly (W7DGX) & Sandra Goodspeed <rollyg at earthlink.net>
To: Computers (or other) used for amateur radio, communications,  or
experimenting <ham-computers at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [Ham-Computers] Formatting Word pad Document
Date: Tuesday, September 21, 2004 5:16 PM

On my machine, the word pad margins are 1.25 inches left and right and 1.0
inches top and bottom. The default justification is to the left.

With normal 8=-inch wide paper that gives you six inches between margins,
which should satisfy your 60 character line. However at 10 characters per
inch, the paper is 85 characters wide. The present margins settings, while
giving you a 60-character line at 10 characters per inch, will give you 12.5
characters at each edge.

To change the margins, use the following menu items:

File >> Page Setup

and change the margins as you desire.

On my machine, wrapping of text when the right margin is reached is not the
default setting. Instead the default setting is wrap at screen edge. The
text runs on and on past the right margin. Wrapping of the text does not
happen until the right side of the screen is reached.

Using the menu items

View >> Options >> Rich Text

you can select "wrap to margins". When this was done, all the text aligned
properly to the margins.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Duane Fischer, W8DBF" <dfischer at usol.com>
To: <ham-computers at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2004 10:01 AM
Subject: [Ham-Computers] Formatting Word pad Document

>
>
> Hello All,
>
> FYI: I am totally blind. Hence the following questions.
>
> Using Word Pad I am curious as to what the default settings are for:
>
> 1. paragraph indention
>
> 2. left margin
>
> 3. right margin
>
> 4. justification
>
> Here is what I want, how do I set it? I realize this is probably displayed
on
> the ruler, but I am having problems 'reading' the markings there.
>
> I want a sixty column line, left margin of ten, right margin of ten.
paragraph
> indention of five.
>
> The font is ten characters per inch.
>
> The top and bottom margins should be one inch.
>
> i think this should yield a maximum of fifty-four lines, as sixty is the
> vertical.
>
> When I 'look' at the current menu settings for a paragraph, it is all set
to
> zero and left justified.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Duane W8DBF
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Ham-Computers mailing list
> Ham-Computers at mailman.qth.net
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/ham-computers
>

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