I have a few complaints on how figures are embedded in OOo Authors
documentation. As a reminder, this is how I expect to do it (In case it
is all me).
* Insert the image
* Anchor the image as a character
* Insert a caption
* Frame is anchored as character with an appropriate paragraph style.
* Set the caption to an appropriate paragraph style.
The end result is that I have a frame, which I then center containing
the figure.
The frame is the same size as the figure.
The caption is contained in the frame left justified under the figure.
My complaints:
1. The figures do not export well to the MS Office DOC format. The
figures end up floating around. In other words, there is a bug in OOo.
We should probably submit an example document and request that this be
corrected in OOo.
2. There is a bug in OOo that sometimes barfs on exactly the wrong
combination. The document loads but if you attempt to view the page with
the image, OOo Locks. After receiving the changes, I had to unzip the
document, manually sift through the XML, find, and remove the frame with
the caption.
3. If the figure is narrow and the caption is long, the caption wraps.
I prefer the following, more time efficient, solution.
* Insert the image
* Anchor the image as character in its own paragraph.
* Set the paragraph to a specific paragraph style which is linked to the
caption paragraph style.
* Insert the figure field in the caption manually (Field <field + 1>:
text text text).
The disadvantage is that the caption can not be left justified to the
figure unless the figure is left justified. It is, however, easy to
center justify both of them. So, you can center or left justify.
I usually use copy and paste to start a new caption because it is faster
than manually inserting the figure field in the caption.
This format exports quickly.
One of my drivers (other than that I prefer the format) is that I have
access to a professional Editor that is willing to occasionally proof my
material, but she only knows and uses Word. If I attempt to export a
document to Word, the figures float around the page and obscures the text.
Sorry, I just wanted to vent a little for no apparent reason.
--
Andrew Pitonyak
My Macro Document: http://www.pitonyak.org/AndrewMacro.odt
My Book: http://www.hentzenwerke.com/catalog/oome.htm
Info: http://www.pitonyak.org/oo.php
See Also: http://documentation.openoffice.org/HOW_TO/index.html
