Why do people expect a word processor to do complex layouts? It's great at inserting images in/around paragraphs, like you would in a book, because that what it's for. If you run into this sort of problem, you're using the wrong tool.
Remember the old DOS, pre-WYSIWYG days? Moving things around by manually inputting the numbers, trying to guess at what happened to the text flow, switching back-and-forth from Print Preview with a one-minute delay each time? It was easier just to cut-and-paste everything manually.
This is funny but I am literally fighting this RIGHT NOW in Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs just to get something formatted with bullet points but NOT double-spaced. WTAF is wrong with these document editors where this is a big deal?
MS gets beaten down for it (rightly so) but the question is why has other companies like apple & google created better formats/solutions in ages (I know gdocs exists!).
It violates "The Principle of Least Astonishment", so it's going to confuse users, and the joke is simply a shared experience that many people have. Anyone who uses Word daily would know how to properly flow the text, but the number of people who've used Word a couple of times, e.g book reports or birthday party invitations, far exceeds the number of daily users. I don't think this joke is intended to be a deep cut on Word, and I don't see any problem having harmless layperson jokes like these.
This is so well done and so relatable. While I understand that these things can be addressed once you know the application well enough, it's frustrating to try and use it from an intuitive stand point. There is no "simple" way to make a moderately complex document.
nah, generally the issue is that people try to use drag-n-drop on the image and the respective office software arbitrarily decides when to move the anchor too...if the anchor moves suddenly that space becomes available for text, so the text gets moved around...in the case of "move image with text" it of course escalates even more, but without that you still get a clusterfuck of layouting...softwares should really disable the option to drag the images around completely...its just never works...
I'm reminded of a line from a writer making fun of it. "How was he supposed to make the program seem easy and user-friendly when its programmers had obviously labored for decades to make it difficult and hostile?"
The product of a decade of anti-competitive monopolistic practices and not facing any consequences for them other than being forced to tone it down. One of the many things that is a direct result of the 2000 election being stolen.
WordPerfect Reveal Codes feature would have helped greatly. The vendor was slow to adapt to Windows 95 long file names and it never seemed to catch up before Office took over
The main problem about Office products is that some of the bugs - such as this one - have existed for so many years - before many of us were even born.
I remember this exact same problem existing when I was in middle school in the 90s. Probably 30 years and they STILL haven't managed to fix it. Kind of wonder if they're even trying.
No, it's a problem with some people not learning how to use the tool or never being taught how to use the tool, and then complaining about how the tool they don't know how to use is doing exactly what they told it to do. A lot of people know exactly how to place images in a Word document without problems, but they don't record elaborate visual gags or write memes about it...
It is not a bug, it's a consequense of improperly inserting elements into text (they align to text by default). If you want them to stay in place, you set them to either be "above" or "below" text.
Since some users seem to assume that "bug" can only mean a software bug, here is a dictionary definition as a reminder that 'bug' is a homonym. For instance, it can mean a software bug and it can also mean something annoying. Thus, a comment on Imgur can also be a bug. https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/bug
The solution = Start any document with one page of carriage returns, go back up to the top and everything will work perfectly. As you use up the "carriage returns" you have to add some at the bottom as you add photos. Never have an issue with inserting photos again. With my method they know where they are in the document, the other way they have to figure it out and sometimes poorly.
BooRidley
Idk why more people don’t use Pages. It’s so user-friendly and plays nice with everyone else.
DocTanner
Why do people expect a word processor to do complex layouts?
It's great at inserting images in/around paragraphs, like you would in a book, because that what it's for. If you run into this sort of problem, you're using the wrong tool.
FlyingTigerRose
This took some time and commitment to work as a visual joke. Well-done, indeed!
Bobby360
The effort involved in this is truly incredible!
AyatollahBahloni
So accurate it's painful. This is what happens when one program tries to be everything to everybody. (Looking at *you*, PL/1)!
integral338
Hey! You can write OSes in PL/1. Try that in winword.exe
AyatollahBahloni
Oh, I had fun with it for years, it's a delightful language.
Kwyjor
Remember the old DOS, pre-WYSIWYG days? Moving things around by manually inputting the numbers, trying to guess at what happened to the text flow, switching back-and-forth from Print Preview with a one-minute delay each time? It was easier just to cut-and-paste everything manually.
PuppyCat36
Life hack for MS Word. ALWAYS put your photo in a single cell table. You're welcome.
fractalsphere
This is funny but I am literally fighting this RIGHT NOW in Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs just to get something formatted with bullet points but NOT double-spaced. WTAF is wrong with these document editors where this is a big deal?
szpet627
theMonkeyTrap
MS gets beaten down for it (rightly so) but the question is why has other companies like apple & google created better formats/solutions in ages (I know gdocs exists!).
stercusmoriturussum
So, nothing changed in the 25 years since I decided to make MS issues other people's problems.
AyrA
It can now automatically detect image borders
RetrogradeLlama
https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTY1YjkxZmJlOGF2MjF4ejN5Ym10d3c2Z2IwaW03NW50YzI3bWhxZWR2bGdoNXRrcCZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/gVoBC0SuaHStq/giphy.mp4
mrpink83
OpenOffice is waaaay better.
stercusmoriturussum
Back in those times, I used LaTeX
TheInitiated
https://media1.giphy.com/media/QAqPBBoJxRLoI/200w.webp?cid=a57373e59fueqyg2yf634a0yke34qbcrqvgqoeusm496nb7r&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=200w.webp&ct=g
ImpossibleAgenda
Fuuuuck you. Just finished an assignment, and it was being stupid.
ThisGuyPostingThings
Glad to know people still haven't figured out how to use text wrap settings.
IamIntoleranceIntolerant
Awesome. Now try format painter on headings and in tables.
sfrinlan
I know you actually wanted everything to have light blue text and a border and for the printer to start printing
SomeDetroitGuy
Right-click, alignment, tight. It takes 30 seconds to use the tool. Why are we pusing "hahah, I can't use a basic computer peogram" boomer humor?
Type17
If that’s what fixes it, why isn’t that the default alignment mode?
Rulesy
It's ok if you don't enjoy every post.
technofiend
:shrug: Because plenty of people have been frustrated by this behavior, but hey pro tip on how to fix it.
sfrinlan
It violates "The Principle of Least Astonishment", so it's going to confuse users, and the joke is simply a shared experience that many people have. Anyone who uses Word daily would know how to properly flow the text, but the number of people who've used Word a couple of times, e.g book reports or birthday party invitations, far exceeds the number of daily users. I don't think this joke is intended to be a deep cut on Word, and I don't see any problem having harmless layperson jokes like these.
Megamastermetamememaker
I'm doing all my letters in Excel.
whothefeckknows
This is so well done and so relatable. While I understand that these things can be addressed once you know the application well enough, it's frustrating to try and use it from an intuitive stand point. There is no "simple" way to make a moderately complex document.
Shadowhawk000095
Hexarcy00
Can you turn the default to wrapping?
CityYeti
They don't understand since they don't bother to click on anything that presents itself
InevitableBadger
The average user doesn't know the image placement options exist. Even those of us who know started out as average users.
Hexarcy00
Hmmm, Can you turn the default to wrapping?
firlefranz
/gallery/oPCDSK1/comment/2452976211
WhoUhz
Can’t Microsoft default to wrapping?
Violaquin
Anchor image to page/background/nothing. That’s the option to select.
Hexarcy00
K
Sinael
Lemme guess, you aligned all of your images to "move with text"
RecurringNightmare
nah, generally the issue is that people try to use drag-n-drop on the image and the respective office software arbitrarily decides when to move the anchor too...if the anchor moves suddenly that space becomes available for text, so the text gets moved around...in the case of "move image with text" it of course escalates even more, but without that you still get a clusterfuck of layouting...softwares should really disable the option to drag the images around completely...its just never works...
EvilBarney
In the 1990s part of my job was to format client Word documents for press and PDF. War. War never changes.
Shaodyn
And yet Microsoft Office is still the standard for basically every computer, despite being incredibly clunky and the exact opposite of user-friendly.
Shaodyn
I'm reminded of a line from a writer making fun of it. "How was he supposed to make the program seem easy and user-friendly when its programmers had obviously labored for decades to make it difficult and hostile?"
Shaodyn
The writer had recently switched from Windows to Linux, so I suppose he was entitled to make fun of Microsoft. And he didn't use the actual names.
quzar
The product of a decade of anti-competitive monopolistic practices and not facing any consequences for them other than being forced to tone it down. One of the many things that is a direct result of the 2000 election being stolen.
lovehandlesmessiah
WordPerfect Reveal Codes feature would have helped greatly. The vendor was slow to adapt to Windows 95 long file names and it never seemed to catch up before Office took over
Violaquin
Anchor image to page/background/nothing. That’s the image option required to avoid this. Hope this helps some folks.
Now, completely unrelated video from Ordinary Sausage.
Ultratoxic
I appreciate the effort that went into this gag. She really figured out how to mount pictures flat to the ceiling just for a 5 second gif
YippeeKayakOB
The main problem about Office products is that some of the bugs - such as this one - have existed for so many years - before many of us were even born.
Shaodyn
I remember this exact same problem existing when I was in middle school in the 90s. Probably 30 years and they STILL haven't managed to fix it. Kind of wonder if they're even trying.
gablestout
Shaodyn
So it's actually a problem with nobody really knowing how to use the program, despite using it from fairly early in school onward into adulthood.
gablestout
No, it's a problem with some people not learning how to use the tool or never being taught how to use the tool, and then complaining about how the tool they don't know how to use is doing exactly what they told it to do.
A lot of people know exactly how to place images in a Word document without problems, but they don't record elaborate visual gags or write memes about it...
Shaodyn
A lot of us were never taught how to use the tool. I know I wasn't. And yet, since it's the default, you're expected to just automatically know.
Sinael
It is not a bug, it's a consequense of improperly inserting elements into text (they align to text by default). If you want them to stay in place, you set them to either be "above" or "below" text.
YippeeKayakOB
Since some users seem to assume that "bug" can only mean a software bug, here is a dictionary definition as a reminder that 'bug' is a homonym. For instance, it can mean a software bug and it can also mean something annoying. Thus, a comment on Imgur can also be a bug. https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/bug
gablestout
By no means is it a bug. It's called not learning to anchor images to the page, and anchoring them to text.
Kroesus
Not a bug.
Quessir
Word's way of expressing, "How fucking dare you?"
Goldenteckel
*sigh*
pt2016
Oldie but goldie
MasterMookie
ctrl + z was my friend <3
mcdoolz
There was once my friend.. when ctrl z could not save you.
MasterMookie
I know DOS was my first operating system.
Kingstonboy
The solution = Start any document with one page of carriage returns, go back up to the top and everything will work perfectly. As you use up the "carriage returns" you have to add some at the bottom as you add photos. Never have an issue with inserting photos again. With my method they know where they are in the document, the other way they have to figure it out and sometimes poorly.
Wharglarm
What if they just made it easier to move photos?
daguq
Same gag as the gif, a hell of a lot less effort, and yet much funnier.
ImmaCatImmaSexyCat
Create a table and put the image in that. Most useful skill my supervisor ever taught me.
cheesecake7
tables are a nightmare
KoRplussomeletters
The drawing canvas is an "official" version of basically that.
BigBlueWonder
Seriously, am I one of the few people that can actually work with MS Word? It’s not that hard.
SportForOurNeighbors
This one drives me crazy too. Right click, y'all. It's gonna be ok.
Gwego
It's a lot of commitment for a joke.
putcleverusernamehere
It is, however, a good joke https://media1.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTY1YjkxZmJldWdjbDVpY25oaXB5ZzRxOTJ5ZWI3dWNleGhxcDg5OTY5YWNqdHV1OCZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/1rSSryHU9R4tIUWhsl/giphy.mp4
chevymonster
Worth it. And probably photoshopped : )
Crowlands
Yeah, I was thinking: "How damn long did it take to move Everything like that?"
Like, you'd need to get a ladder for the pictures and everything. How did they affix the lamp so it didn't fall? All that stuff.
Nightcrawler63
https://media2.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTY1YjkxZmJlOHRvdTQ2M2N6Yjc2NnhscThvc3V4d2g3NnZmNGkwMmdqMndiYTU5ayZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/l1KsPx1XnnnWQiH6M/giphy.mp4
chevymonster
Probably photoshopped : )