The Alpha templates are small packages which make MS Word a better tool for creating scientific documents. They simplify the tasks of formatting the text. They can automatically handle the numbering (and renumbering) of journal references. Finally, they will properly format equations, that is with an equation in the middle of the page with an automatic number to it's right. You don't need to know much about Word to use the templates. All the functions are controlled from a new toolbar and/or the existing Word pull down menus. The macro source code is, naturally, included inside the template.
There are two versions of the alpha templates. The Alpha95 template is designed for use with Word 6.0 and 7.0 (also known as Word 95). They incorporate the D&J Equation Editor macros that give it the equation formatting functionality. The D&J Equation Editor macros are improvements upon macros published by Microsoft. The original Microsoft macros were rather difficult to implement unless you already had a working knowledge of using and building macros in Word. Dave and John created a package which was easy to control.
There is a significant lack of backward compatability of Word 97 with macros that call some older objects like Equation 2.0 . I reimplemented all equation formatting macros from scratch for the Alpha97 template.
The Alpha template packages are small ZIP files. Each contains the appropriate
word template, a readme file, and a tutorial document which should allow
you to get started immediately. You will need a program to ``unzip'' the
files. A popular one is WinZIP. I however
prefer InfoZip's
Wiz, which is free and open-source.
There are many other fine free ZIP/UNZIP programs on the web, such as
Ken Ward's Zipper.
You don't have to be locked into a shareware program.
VERSION NOTES:
Alpha97 is now at version 2.2. (June 3, 2002)
Revision 2.0 featured a new toolbar and a new pull-down menu dedicated totally to Alpha functions, a new macro to simplify the insertion of journal cross-references, and new code has been added to the auto-execute macro to lock all alpha97 documents into an arabic endnote numbering scheme (for the automatic journal references).
Revision 2.1 contains some new user contributions for better Word 2000 compatibility. I also reworked most of the macro code for better readability. Some of the macros run faster now.
Revision 2.2 contains several general improvements and workarounds for bugs in Word that I have discovered.