   Microsoft Office 97 Intranet Product Enhancement Guide: New
                  Features in Detail in Word 97

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Detailed Description of New Features in Microsoft Word 97

Online Layout View

Word 97 provides a new online layout view that is optimized for
on-screen reading. What works best for reading printed pages is
often different from what is best for reading online. For
example, it is useful to see recurring headers and footers in
printed output, but not as useful online. Online layout view
provides the best on-screen display of documents.

Online layout view

Research shows that optimal width for legibility online is
approximately 60 to 70 characters per line. Online layout view
restricts column width to display an average of 66 characters
per line. A fixed column width also aids online authoring
because it guarantees a constant line width across various
displays and operating systems.

Typically, font size is optimized for printed output and is too
small to read comfortably on the screen. In online layout view,
fonts are scaled to be at least 12 points to make documents more
readable online.

Online layout view also lays out pages based on a new virtual
page size that is in turn based on the document window size. The
page is designed to preserve 66 characters per line at the best
font size. Page breaks are not indicated on the screen, but Word
creates constant width margins to make the online page easy to
read.

Document Map

The Document Map in Word 97 allows users to move around
documents more easily. A split screen displays a hyperlink
outline of a document in the left pane and the document text in
the right pane. The Document Map gives users one-click access to
points of interest, and serves as a "you are here" road map.

Word document map

Navigation Tools

Word 97 combines the intuitive navigation of the scroll bar with
the power of the Find and Go To dialog boxes. Microsoft
usability tests show that users are comfortable navigating
through their documents using the scroll bar, but the scroll bar
is not the best tool when users are reviewing long, structured
documents.

Word 97 contains a Document Browser accessible from the scroll
bar. The browser lets users choose an element by which to
navigate. For example, to review all the tables in a document, a
user clicks the Browse by Table button in the browser. When the
user clicks the Previous or Next button on the scroll bar, Word
automatically goes to the previous or next table in the
document. Users can browse by page, section, comments, footnote,
endnote, field, table, picture, or headings.

Document Browser accessible from the scroll bar

Web Page Authoring

In Word 97, the Internet Assistant is built directly into the
product. In addition, Word 97 extends Internet Assistant
functionality to allow users to create sophisticated and
powerful Web pages without having to learn HTML. Word 97
supports the following HTML tags:
  * Backgrounds Users can create visually appealing and
    compelling documents using new background colors and
    textures. They can choose from two dozen built-in textures
    or create custom textures using Office Art.
  * Bullets Users can create graphically rich bullets designed
    specifically for HTML documents.

    Bullet styles for HTML documents

  * Horizontal lines or rules Word 97 extends its built-in
    borders and shading functionality to create colorful and
    graphical horizontal lines designed for HTML documents. A
    new Horizontal Line dialog box, accessible from the Insert
    menu, allows users to choose from a variety of colorful
    horizontal line images. A new toolbar button on the
    formatting toolbar gives users quick access to the
    last-selected line style.

    Horizontal line styles for HTML documents

  * Pictures Users can insert pictures in a Web page using the
    same Picture dialog box that is used with a standard Word
    document. Word 97 allows graphics to be hyperlinks, and
    automatically converts and compresses graphics and objects
    to JPEG or GIF images.
  * Video Users can use the Word Picture dialog box to add video
    clips and to decide when and how long a video clip will
    play.

    Video clip settings

  * Sound Word 97 gives Web page authors a background sound
    control so users can specify the sound file and the number
    of times to play it.

    Background sound control

  * Marquee text Marquee text allows users to create a banner of
    text that scrolls across the screen. The user controls all
    the animation, direction, speed, background color, and size
    of text.
  * Blinking text Blinking, another popular text-animation
    effect, can be added to Web pages on the Animation tab in
    the Font dialog box (Format menu).
  * HTML forms Word 97 provides a consistent approach to forms
    design regardless of whether users are creating forms in a
    standard Word document or an HTML document. The following
    form types and buttons are available:

       * Check box
       * Password control
       * Radio button
       * Text box
       * List box
       * Select drop down
       * Select text area
       * Control Submit button
       * Image Submit button
       * Reset button

Animated Text

Animated text helps make documents come alive. With animated
text, users can make their text blink, march, shimmer, or
sparkle. Text animation is only for online use and is not
visible in printed documents.

Animated text options

Background Picture Rendering

Word 97 provides an optimal online browsing experience by
rendering pictures in the background. This allows users to
browse through text and other document elements without waiting
for the entire document to download.

Compressed Graphics

Word 97 now automatically compresses pictures and graphics
inserted into documents. In addition, Word natively stores JPEG
images and converts all raster formats to PNG, a new compressed
format.

Web Page Wizard

To get users up and running quickly, Word 97 includes a Web Page
Wizard that allows users to select the type and style of the
page they want to create. The Web Page Wizard provides users
with content and design help so that they can successfully
create a visually compelling page that effectively communicates
the information they want to share.

Web Page Wizard

Web templates exist for common types of Web pages, such as a
personal home page, an information-request page, and a
forms-based page (for example, a merchandising page). Word 97
also includes eight predefined styles that users can choose from
when creating Web pages.

Online Content

In addition to the built-in collection of Web-specific elements,
users of Word 97 have access to the Microsoft Web site to choose
from a larger collection of Web-authoring templates, images, and
tools.
  * Online Clip Art collection New backgrounds, bullets,
    buttons, icons, horizontal lines, video files, and sounds
    will be posted on the Microsoft Web site for users to
    download.
  * Online templates New Web templates created by Microsoft will
    be posted on the Web site for users to download.

Support for HTML Tags

Word 97 provides WYSIWYG support for authoring Web pages with
commonly used tags such as tables, fonts, graphics, blinking
text, and background sound. Word 97 supports more than 80 HTML
tags. The supported tag set is updated on an ongoing basis, and
Word automatically prompts the user to download support for new
tags using the AutoUpdate feature.


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