To bring up huge blocks of text quickly, it’s easier to use AutoText rather than a macro; not to mention that it’s faster now that AutoText can be called automatically and completed on fly - you can even launch them from a button. You don’t need a macro to save your page settings or to start off your commonly used documents anymore; you just simply create a template for that (or use one of templates that comes with Microsoft Word – like Letter Wizard). And if you want to copy text formatting to other blocks of text, you’ll use Format Painter … not a macro.

With all of these great tools that have replaced need to use macros for common tasks, last question is what exactly would you use them for nowadays? Though some may find a few isolated cases to use one, a macro is mainly a tool mainly for programmers. So unless you find yourself needing to create an automation solution in Visual Basic, macros should become a thing of past. But it’s nice to know that they’re available … just in case!

Newsletters and Other Publications This is where you can really get creative with your font use, but don’t overdo it. For article text, keep it all same and readable like a default font. For everything else, you may use up to 10 fonts & sizes; it all depends on mode you need for your your publication. A corporate look will use fewer fonts and a fun look. The question becomes whether or not each heading and each section will have a different font.

Fonts For Your Website Web documents have to be treated differently since object is to make your text look good on screen. Arial & Helvetica have always proven reliable, but Verdana & Tahoma have become very popular in past few years. Times New Roman is a thing of past, and there aren’t many other fonts that are good for web development unless they’re made into graphic files (which slows down your website). But for a little more flexibility, be sure to use a pixel size (px) instead of a pont size (pt).

We could go on and on about how to treat other types of documents when it comes to fonts (and perhaps maybe we will in future articles); but whether you’re working on a research paper, a flyer, business cards, or even a church service program, they all have a basic feeling to be conveyed - and picking appropriate fonts will make sure that you convey right message. So unless you want your next newsletter to look like a property deed, go get some more fonts and pick right fonts for your document.