> On Wed, 17 Sep 2008 11:11:32 -0400 > Came this utterance fomulated by Twayne to my mailbox: > >>> On Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:04:08 +0100 >>> Came this utterance fomulated by Mark Potter to my mailbox: >>> >>>> Michael >>>> How is MS Word a better application for this purpose? it seems >>>> better in that you can create your own unique style
I don't necessarily agree that Word is "better" for the purpose. It's too subjective a thing to make an all encompassing statement IMO. It seems to me OOo is up to this particular task but it may take gaining a little experience with it. >>> >>> OpenOffice.org has more control of styles than MSWord. You can set >>> styles on individual pages, lists, tables, TOC's etc, even having >>> portrait and landscape page styles in the same document. >> >> Just for the sake of accuracy and meaning nothing at all against OOo >> or the author, you can do all of those things in Word too. So it >> doesn't actually have "more" control in the sense of your listing. >> Word is even slightly more intuitive in a couple of those and less in >> others. >> > > Word does not have page styles. Yes, it actually does, it just doesn't call it that and the use implementation varies between the two. All it takes in Word is to add a Section Break. After each section break you can set/reset page orientation, fonts, lists, tables, tocs, page numbers, headers, footers, biblio, etc. etc. on a per section basis. Just like OOo, you can do it on a next page, a continuous, column and whatever the other choices are. It's the same thing, just a different way of accomplishing it. Far as I know it's been that way since about Word version 6 but I'm not positive that's really its first appearance. Truthfully I like Word's implementation better but at the same time OOo puts together a more intuitive interface IMO if you're learning it for the first time. > >>> >>>> and have criteria you decide in the resume. >>> >>> Any template can be modified, and you are welcome to submit >>> modifications or alternatives to the documentation project. >>> >>>> it would be helpful if the application in linux is broadened >>>> somewhat similar to that in MS. >>> >>> I disagree, that is the trap that many making suggestions fall into. >>> Making it more like MSWord means that it can never be better than >>> MSWord. It will always be playing catch-up to try to look like the >>> latest improvement to the competitor. Are we trying to make a better >>> app or an also-ran? >> >> True, but IMO, what the development team is up against is, the public >> wants Word capabilities first, and better second. What they want is >> to get out from under MS's planned obsolescence and expensive >> upgrades every time you turn around or else stick in the same rut >> year after year. "also-ran" is also past tense, which so far comes >> nowhere near the track for Ooo. > > I use "also-ran" in the horse racing sense, there are the leaders > first through third and the also-rans. You are either a leader or an > also-ran. > >> So more accurately, they first want Word and >> improvements over Word would be the icing on the cake to bring more >> and more Word professionals into the fold. So in a way the OOo team >> has a tougher project description than do the MS folks. And they >> have achieved some pretty good improvements. >> > > With the change in UI in Office 2007 - OO.o has the opportunity to > fork it's UI from that of Office. By first sticking to the well known > UI, and gaining a following of those who don't want to have to learn > the new Office UI. Then by developing appropriate UI improvements > into the program over time. This is possible more with OO.o because > the release cycles are more frequent. Offices change was a drastic > one which can alienate a lot of it's existing users. lol, alienate is putting it mildly! IMO the UI methodology OOo has used is one of the best things it could have done. IMO the big thing about the release cycles with OOo is that the backward compatability isn't nearly as bad as with MS and their planned obsolesence. Ooo does have a sensible migration plan it seems, and I hope it continues along this way. I'm not aware of any release cycles in OOo causing any serious learning/relearning curves but I sure can't say that for MSOffice. I think MS has completely lost track of their goals and what the user base means to them. > >>> >>>> it would be far better than MS as linux is! thanks for the site, >>>> I'll> have a look around. >>>> >>> >>> Many power users (i am not a power user) already think it is better. >> >> I'm sure that's true in some cases, but this user still has to keep >> Word around, much as he doesn't like to. OOo still has some >> weaknesses that won't allow the complete separation from Word yet >> that a lot of people run into. The biggie for me is image stability >> in and out of table structures for large documents, including during >> PDF creation. There are ways to work around them and i've used a >> lot of them, but for some few I still have to return to Word to get >> it done in any reasonable timeframe. Another real annoyance is that >> Writer just can't do envelopes accurately and for me, with a >> center-feed laser printer, it's a pain to get a template for an >> envelope I haven't yet created a custom template for, to print >> right. Where with Word it's just a couple of keyclicks. >> > > One of the biggest issues for me is the way Word collapses top spacing > above the top paragraph into the margin of the page, the bottom > paragraph and margin as well. I blame Microsoft for this because i am > aware as a web developer that they do it with Internet Explorer as > well against W3C specs. This is one of the reasons they have to keep > supporting broken websites. - I'm just highlighting that the > differences are differences not necesarily failings on OO.o's part. Hmm, collapsed spacing has never been an issue for me. Perhaps in the later version; I stopped upgrading Ofifice and stayed at the XP version (2002) and am still running it. From 2003 on there seems to be nothign of any value to me in the feature/functions of the apps and 2007, well, I don't know what tha twas about; progress for the sake of progress, I suspect. > >> Nothing I'm saying is meant to minimize OOo in any way. It's a >> fantastic accomplishment to date and is continuing to progress, but >> it gets harder and harder every day. These sort of programs are >> almost living programs as documents are living documents. And when >> you add Calc, Base et al to the mix, you realize just how huge an >> accomplishment Ooo really is. And f course, it couldn't have happened >> without SUN. >> >> Twayne >> > > Cheers, you have good points of discussion. Maybe; sorry for all the verbosity; it's that kind of day I guess. Regards, Twayne --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
