Discovering that there are apparently many others like me out there who have trouble with the way the Mac handles tabs and indents was a great relief to me. For some reason — presumably because of my long history with the typewriter — I have been struggling with these pesky things for years. But Robin Williams (The Little Mac Book, The Mac is not a typewriter, et. al) has written a book which has finally clarified the subject for me.
Tabs & Indents on the Macintosh is a tiny (63 pages) book/disk combination which clearly explains tabs and indents in just the first 20 pages. The rest of the book (and the disk) are devoted to exercises that allow you to practice using them. There is even a “final exam,” which covers all of the uses in one exercise. The applications covered are Microsoft Word, Microsoft Works 3, T/Maker WriteNow, ClarisWorks and MacWrite II, QuarkXPress, and Aldus PageMaker. MacWrite Pro, which I use, was not covered, but the files on the disk converted easily from MacWrite II.
After having gone through the book and its exercises only one time, I think I finally understand tabs and indents. (They really are logical.) But in case I get confused again, I won’t have to wait for Jim to straighten me out — I can just refer to this handy little guide.
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