John Kane wrote:
Jean Hollis Weber said:
I think the section on bibliographies in Chapter 12 (which also
covers ToCs and indexes) should be pulled out into a chapter of
its own and expanded with examples, tips, and solutions to common
problems. Suggested title: "Working with Bibliographies".
From what I have read, the built-in bibliography function is
very limited, but an add-on or plug-in to OOo is available and
works well, though it takes some learning.
Unless this is something new I don't think I would call it an add-on
There is a more or less dedicated bibliographic package called Bibus...
it is a compete stand-alone bibliographic system. It is quite easy to
use. The major problem has been with set-up. In the earlier versions, up
to 1.0.0 it was a brute to install...
Version 1.2.0 at least for Windows comes as a simple .exe file
and seems to install very easily in most cases. I don't really know
about the Linux and Mac versions.
I have used it and it is pretty good. As of the 1.2.0 release it will
work with both OOo and Word.... It is somewhat
limited in that it uses the OOo bibliographic data base system as its
basis and the OOO bib stinks. However with a bit of ingenuity one can
handle almost any referencing system though I don't know about some of
the more arcane Chicago styles, which I don't use.
I don't know how much of that we should be documenting.
Meanwhile, of course, we can add at least a reference to it in
the existing chapter on ToCs, Indexes, and Biblios, if someone
has not already done so.
My recommendation would be simply to put in short note saying that it
exists and giving the URL
http://bibus-biblio.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page . The
documentation is quite good and I don't think that we could add anything
much. Pierre, the primary author, also is very good about providing help
and there is a small but determined group of users on the OOo Fora who
can also advise.
Thanks, John, for the info and recommendation. Bibus is indeed
the program I was referring to, and from your comments I agree
that just a reference to it should be sufficient.
It's good to talk to someone with experience in this area, since
I have none! Do you think it is worth expanding the info on using
OOo's bibliography function itself in the Writer Guide? Even if
it is just to answer some common questions by saying "alas, you
cannot do that without Bibus" or "here's a workaround for doing
it in OOo"?
--Jean
