I've been thinking about improvements to all our books, either
now or for OOo3.0 (a year away). I want to tell you some of these
thoughts so you can discuss them while I'm away.
Quite a few topics are missing from the Writer Guide, and as new
features keep being added, the list of missing topics may get
longer. Some of these topics would go best in new chapters, some
in existing chapters... and perhaps for OOo 3.0 a reorganization
of some material into a different sequence of chapters would be
best. I don't have a complete list of topics, but here are some
that come immediately to mind:
* Working with embedded spreadsheets, charts, and other objects
* Using Writer/Web - Scott Rhoades, are you writing this when you
have time?
* Macros and extensions chapter - do we want/need one in the
Writer Guide, or is the one in Getting Started sufficient? (Calc
was something of a special case, given the heavy use of macros in
Calc.)
* Using Writer as an email editor (not sending attachments; we've
got a section on that -- but editing the body of an email itself;
is this possible? does anything need to be said? any gotchas?)
* Using the Navigator (more than what's there already) - probably
will be similar to what eventually gets written for GS, so can be
reused or slightly reworked for here.
* Should we also include a bit about using Bibus (an external
program) to extend the built-in bibliography functions? Not in
any detail, but I don't think there is even a reference to it at
the moment, and it's a topic of much importance to many academics
and scientists, among others.
* Some topics are covered lightly, but perhaps need more depth --
though not necessarily in this book. I've been thinking we might
need a second volume for more advanced material that most users
wouldn't need, but those who do need the info need it in depth.
Fields and forms, for example, but I'm sure there are many more.
I'd like to compile a wish list of these topics.
Several changes in OOo2.3 are listed here:
http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/highlights_of_openoffice_org_writer
Most of these need at most a small mention somewhere in the book,
or a change to an existing section. I know Michele Zarri will
write about some of them.
Anyone else have topics to add to the list, or comments on my
list? Gary, I think you might have some topics, in addition to
your proposal for a tutorial on producing a book.
Which of the missing topics (if any) should we try to include
now, assuming anyone can be found to write about them?
--Jean
