Basing One Style on Another

If you're creating a style that is similar to an existing one, you can base the new style on the existing one so that it gains all the formatting in the existing style. Then all you need to do is tweak the new style a little to get the formatting exactly as you want it. To base a style on another one, you select the "based on" style in the Style Based On list in the New Style or Modify Style dialog box.

Although you can create styles rather quickly with this method, it can cause two problems down the road. First, when you look at the description of a style that's based on another style (in the bottom half of the New Style or Modify Style dialog box), it lists the "based on" style plus whatever adjustments you've made to it. For example, in Figure 9.12, the Short Quote style is based on the Quote style, so the description lists Quote plus the one modification (the indentation was removed). If you want to see all the formatting in the new style, you need to track down the content of the "based on" style ”a tedious task. And if the "based on" style is itself based on another style, reach for some coffee or chocolate to cheer yourself up.

Figure 9.12. Think carefully before basing one style on another.

Second, if you base several styles on a style and then modify the "based on" style, all the other styles will change accordingly . This "ripple effect" can produce some unexpected (and often unwanted) results. This said, keep in mind that you can also turn this second potential problem into an advantage, if you think things through carefully. For example, if you have used several styles based on the same style and you decide to change the font of the entire document, you can change it in the "based on" style, and this change will update the font in all of the other styles as well.

The most straightforward route in most situations is to base each style on the Normal style, so you can see exactly what formatting it contains and modify it without affecting other styles.