Why does Microsoft Word suck at placing pictures into a text?

[KnickNut3]

How come the all-powerful, super-compatible Word goes apes**t once in a while when you try to place pictures into a text with square or tight word wrap? All I want to do is place a picture and a caption, and it insists on placing one of the two on the top edge of the screen, or, when I drop it where I want it, it puts it way up on the page before it.

Am I missing something here?

 

[thraxes]

It's a feature

Actually my university strongly encourages students to NOT use Word for lengthy documents. Also a german computer magazine recently tested Word Processing programmes with a 400 page strong thesis. Word flunked out completely by screwing up the entire layout as you described. Amazingly the free Open Office and its derivative Star Office had no problems with it, as most others in the field (only another more obscure office package failed the test, but only because it didn't load any more pictures after page 200, it did leave the layout intact though).

Anyways our IT department has Open Office on CDs for anybody that's interested, all machines in the school are being changed over to OO (save a good amount of $$ in the process) and some of the IT profs give LaTEX seminars every two semesters for those who really want to outdo themselves.

 

Because it's not a desktop publishing program. It's a word processor. Spring the ~$500 for Adobe Pagemaker if you want perfect graphic/text placement. Word does not and never has pretended to be a publishing suite replacement.

 

[Pepsei]

Not only that, the file size imploded when I added about 12+ pictures.

 

Originally posted by: Pepsei
Not only that, the file size imploded when I added about 12+ pictures.

If it imploded, you're implying that the file size actually SHRUNK when pictures were added.

 

[TitanDiddly]

The wrap setting are awful. I hate them. I've found 'square' wrap to be more manageable than the default, but it appears you've been there.

 

[Pepsei]

Originally posted by: Pepsei
Not only that, the file size imploded when I added about 12+ pictures.

Yeah right, I was thinking about Ren & Stimpy when I type that. I meant exploded.

 

[KnickNut3]

Originally posted by: jumpr
Because it's not a desktop publishing program. It's a word processor. Spring the ~$500 for Adobe Pagemaker if you want perfect graphic/text placement. Word does not and never has pretended to be a publishing suite replacement.

Well then the "standard" needs to be a little more capable

But seriously, some paragraphs I've noticed refuse to accept pictures. If I place them outside that paragraph they're fine, but within it they shoot to the top of the #%%# screen.

 

[gsaldivar]

Originally posted by: Pepsei
Not only that, the file size imploded when I added about 12+ pictures.

MS Word has an option somewhere to LINK to placed images rather than EMBED them.

This will keep your file size down considerably...

 

[NightCrawler]

Microsoft Publisher 2003