Rick Barnes wrote:

> I am trying to discover and list the MAJOR new features of OOo v2 for
> the What is OOo? guide and need your input.  To begin with what I think
> is important and what you think are probably not the same...

What qualifies as a major new feature is always debatable. Don't try to 
please everyone. Instead, focus on making a "reasonable" list which "most" 
people would consider "mostly right". Anything more is probably not 
doable.

> I have heard "rumors" all over the OOo forums, so I would like good hard
> facts! For instanc,e are there any NEW functions in Calc? Have the PDF
> and Flash export features really been greatly improved?

Don't spend too much time on rumors. If you are unsure about whether a 
feature exists, download a snapshot and see if its there. For example, I 
just checked that indeed there are several improvements to PDF export. For 
example, right now I'm noticing that you can choose the compression format 
for images, you can produce "tagged" PDFs, export OOo notes into PDF notes 
and for Impress you can include transition effects. There is an entry 
called "submit forms in format". I don't know what that does, but it sure 
is a new feature.

>       * New file format - OpenOffice.org 2.0 and StarOffice 8 use the
>         new OASIS standard XML file format as their default file
>         format.The new file names are the same regardless of the product
>         vendor. You will not only find this new file format used in
>         StarOffice and OpenOffice.org, but also in KOffice and a growing
>         number of products that support this new standard.

This is my favourite. Unfortunately, we need to do a lot of education 
before people will see that.


>       * Changed "AutoPilot" to "Wizard" - The term "AutoPilot" has been
>         changed everywhere to "wizard". This conforms to common office
>         suite terminology and will help make our wizards more
>         recognizable for users.

Replace this by "usability improvements". The AutoPilot thing is only one 
of several examples of strings being changed or icons being moved, or menu 
entries edited in order to make the software more intuitive and easy to 
learn.

Cheers,
-- 
Daniel Carrera            | There is no urge so great as for one man to 
Join OOoAuthors today!    | edit another man's work.
http://www.oooauthors.org |  -- Mark Twain

Reply via email to