Users are advised to use paragraph styles as opposed to direct formatting
not only because it's easer to apply and change complex formatting that
way but also because various problems arise from direct formatting. Most
infamous are the problems in directly applying numbering to a list.
Do similar warnings apply to using direct character formatting? Here's one
such warning that I encountered recently, at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/TblsFldsFms/FastTables.htm
. Applying manual formatting is very resource-hungry €“ apply predefined
styles instead.
This isn't exactly analogous to the warnings about direct paragraph
formatting, because the adverse consequences affect the functioning of the
computer rather than the outcome. Still, it's a good reason not to use
direct formatting in tables. Is this stricture limited to tables? When
should the user be wary of applying direct character formatting?
Stephen Diamond
On Mon, 03 Jul 2006 01:10:21 -0700, Stefan Blom wrote:
Like paragraph styles, character styles help you apply consistent
formatting to text. And of course, modifying a character style
immediately reformats any text where that style is applied.