Master Format 2004 Format

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Author Message John M Schneider New member Username: cxagent Post Number: 1 Registered: 02-2006 Posted on Monday, February 13, 2006 - 04:27 pm:    I am beginning to change our specifications over to MF2004. I have seen level 3 sections written as 05 13 23 and as 05 1323. Which one is correct? Also, for level 4 sections, would the correct way be 05 13 23 13 or 05 1323.13? William C. Pegues, FCSI, CCS Senior Member Username: wpegues Post Number: 532 Registered: 10-2002 Posted on Monday, February 13, 2006 - 04:34 pm:    Masterformat itself uses... 05 13 23 and 05 13 23.13 But, whether a space or not, it leaves it open to user preference. William Lynn Javoroski CSI CCS LEED AP SCIP Affiliate Senior Member Username: lynn_javoroski Post Number: 301 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Monday, February 13, 2006 - 04:35 pm:    I don't think correct enters into this equation. There have been previous threads on this; check there. It's part how your computer will recognize it, part how you will be saying it, part how you will be typing it. Do you want to put a hard space in the number so that it stays together? We're running the numbers together; one of our consultants is doing 2 by 2 by 2. Ours would be 051323 and 051323.13. Wayne Yancey Senior Member Username: wyancey Post Number: 101 Registered: 05-2005 Posted on Monday, February 13, 2006 - 09:10 pm:    I follow Lynn's practice. Wayne Richard L Matteo, AIA, CSI, CCS Senior Member Username: rlmat Post Number: 149 Registered: 10-2003 Posted on Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - 11:55 am:    I haven't gotten into any 04 sections yet, but when I do I have already decided to run the numbers together and I also like Lynn's method of a decimal point after the first 6 digits. I hate a lot of white space in my specs in any direction. Russell W. Wood, CSI, CCS Senior Member Username: woodr5678 Post Number: 47 Registered: 11-2003 Posted on Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - 01:35 pm:    I represent a very large public agency. Therefore, before making the MF04 conversion I did quite a bit of industry research to determine who is doing what with the new numbers. I can tell you the vast majority are following CSIs perfered format of three pairs of two with the delimiter (a hardspace) separating the pairs= XX XX XX or XX XX XX.XX Sheldon Wolfe Senior Member Username: sheldon_wolfe Post Number: 190 Registered: 01-2003 Posted on Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - 02:44 pm:    I went with the xx-xxxx format suggested by Colin (see Battle Plans for MasterFormat '04 thread), which, according to Dennis Hall, had already been proposed by ARCOM in December 2002. It avoids problems associated with use of spaces in filenames, can be used both as the filename and the section number, and is easy to use in conversation. John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 471 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - 05:30 pm:    We went with XX XXXX format. Have not had-and don't foresee-problems with spaces in filenames, which are common these days. Within specs, non-breaking space is used. Chris Grimm, RLA, CDT, MAI, CSI Senior Member Username: tsugaguy Post Number: 26 Registered: 06-2005 Posted on Thursday, March 02, 2006 - 04:27 pm:    The only problem I have seen with spaces is if you want to make a hyperlink by pasting a path & filename into an email or other document, you must first put <>'s around it or the link stops at the space. If you've never tried hyperlinks this way you might like it. Go to Word or any component of Outlook, type file://, and a LAN address, or type mailto: and someone's email address. Of course there's www. and a web address. In Word or Excel the hyperlink is made after you hit enter or space (which is why you have to type <file://> and then back arrow and then paste your LAN address if it has a space in it). John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 477 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Friday, March 03, 2006 - 08:56 am:    You can fix, add or remove the hyperlinks in Word that Chris descibes by using the Insert, Hyperlink command. The dialog box gives you a range of ways to control hyperlinks. The feature he describes to automatically create hyperlinks can be turned off if you wish. Go to Insert, Auto Text, Auto Text; AutoFormat tab, and uncheck "Internet and network paths with hyperlinks". (These instructions are for Word 2000.) Tracy Van Niel Senior Member Username: tracy_van_niel Post Number: 159 Registered: 04-2002 Posted on Friday, March 03, 2006 - 09:51 am:    How do you place a non-breaking space in Word? George A. Everding, AIA, CSI, CCS, CCCA Senior Member Username: geverding Post Number: 126 Registered: 11-2004 Posted on Friday, March 03, 2006 - 10:08 am:    Ctrl-Shift-Spacebar The symbol that appears when you "display hidden text" is a small circle, like a temperature degree symbol. The standard space appears as a small dot. Tracy Van Niel Senior Member Username: tracy_van_niel Post Number: 161 Registered: 04-2002 Posted on Friday, March 03, 2006 - 10:37 am:    Thank you, George!!! William C. Pegues, FCSI, CCS Senior Member Username: wpegues Post Number: 550 Registered: 10-2002 Posted on Friday, March 03, 2006 - 10:53 am:    You might experiment with alt-space. See if the Mac keyboard commands work in the PC version...afterall, Word started life on the Mac. non-breaking spaces on the Mac version can be either the pc command of control-shift-space, or the simpler alt-space. Try it, see if it works, its an easier keystroke. You could also make it a macro command that you assign to something more covenient for your use. William John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 478 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Friday, March 03, 2006 - 11:20 am:    In windows, alt-space brings up the shortcut menu for the active window. Another mini-tip, ctrl-shift-hyphen is a non-breaking hyphen. Masterspec is good about using these non-breaking characters. That's why ASTM standards will not be split up at the end of a line of text. Wayne Yancey Senior Member Username: wyancey Post Number: 105 Registered: 05-2005 Posted on Friday, March 03, 2006 - 06:23 pm:    Also, in MSWord, nonbreaking spaces (look like the degree symbol) are created with Shift+Crtl+Space Bar (also knows as the "Any Key"). Turn on the Show/Hide icon to see the character. Wayne Wayne Yancey Senior Member Username: wyancey Post Number: 106 Registered: 05-2005 Posted on Friday, March 03, 2006 - 06:31 pm:    Another useful trick I learned using MSWord on the Mac (also works on a Windows PC) to select a user defined column of text through subsequent paragraphs hold down the ALT key, hold down the left mouse key, drag down the page to highlight text of any width; hit the delete key to remove text. This is useful for deleting a column of tab characters or numbers that are not set for auto-renumbering. William C. Pegues, FCSI, CCS Senior Member Username: wpegues Post Number: 552 Registered: 10-2002 Posted on Friday, March 03, 2006 - 10:32 pm:    oh, Wayne! You have been a pc user far too long - 'hold down the left mouse key' ... indeed! But a useful tip for all platforms is keeping the 'hidden characters' preference turned on. I do that all the time, see tabs, spaces, returns, which can be very important. That's my default mode. Also very useful when you get a jumble of stuff from someone that looks really strange on printing, or when you view it and add a word and watch wierd things happen to the paragraph format. William Dean E. McCarty Senior Member Username: dean_e_mccarty Post Number: 16 Registered: 08-2002 Posted on Saturday, March 04, 2006 - 02:14 pm:    I, too, keep the “show paragraphs” on as a default. A veteran word processor I worked with a decade ago, when I first started my life as a spec writer, taught me that is the best way to see everything on a document. When I have a part time helper in my office, I always teach them to do the same. Another trick related to the hard space is the hard hyphen. Using the Shift+Crtl+Hyphen keys, one can force the text or digits on both sides of the hyphen to the same line. This comes in handy for fractions (1- 1/2) becomes 1-1/2). Finally, regarding the conversion of my masters, I made the shift beginning this past January. I am currently using the XX XX XX format, but I am seriously considering a shift to the XXXXXX format. The only real reason I would do this is because the three pairs of numbers is difficult for me to get used to. Not a rational reason, I agree. Robin E. Snyder Senior Member Username: robin Post Number: 37 Registered: 08-2004 Posted on Saturday, March 04, 2006 - 07:19 pm:    Actually, Dean, I am thinking the same thing. I have produced about 4 or 5 Project Manuals using XX XX XX, and I just don't like the way it looks and reads - it is challenging to the eye/mind to absorb it as a single item (in my opinion), and I am thinking seriously of going to the XXXXXX format. John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 480 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 09:14 am:    We've gone with XX XXXX, but for the same reason, I'm unsure if it's the right choice. Doug Frank FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: doug_frank_ccs Post Number: 139 Registered: 06-2002 Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 09:21 am:    I just love the stuff you can learn here. Who knew the magic of the Alt+Left mouse before? Regarding the six digit format, never having been thought of as being “Conventional”, my treatment of the six digits is somewhat unconventional. as an “Homage” to the MFETT, I use XX XX XX in the Actual Section Title, in the Footer line of each page, And at End Of Section. However, within the body of the individual sections I eliminate the spaces and use XXXXXX. I also use XXXXXX in the section listing in the Table Of Contents. I guess I’m just a rebel without a clue. Sheldon Wolfe Senior Member Username: sheldon_wolfe Post Number: 191 Registered: 01-2003 Posted on Monday, March 06, 2006 - 09:24 am:    Try the hyphen between the two sets of digits; it makes it look like a single number. If only we had followed ARCOM's suggestion...