This is somewhat tangential from the subject of a development guide. And it
is part documentation development and part software development. But there
is a crying need for an enhancement to the OOo interface and related
documentation.
The root problem is that the OOo interface is way more cumbersome than is
necessary for assigning a command line to a menu item, toolbar icon, or
keystroke command ("MITIKC"). E.g., if all you want is to launch an app,
summon a device's dialog, or open a web page in a browser, as nearly as I
can tell you have to manually create a script that will do the job, copy or
move it to the appropriate directory, then assign it to a MITIKC. The
embedded Help system offers no guidance on this process. Most users will run
from the very mention of writing a script because OOo has no user-friendly
scripting language equivalent to WordPerfect Office's PerfectScript.
So there is a documentation need that would be a partial fix. But the entire
problem could go away were an extension developed that would automate much
of the generation of a script that does nothing more than to execute a
command line. I can even imagine a dialog that asks whether the user wishes
to assign the script to a menu item, toolbar icon, or keystroke command,
then opens the right dialog screen for the selected assignment. The dialog
for creating a script that opens a web page in the system's default browser
might offer options to use a different browser and to select the size of the
browser when opened.
Were the extension itself installed with a menu item or toolbar icon as its
action trigger, users could create such scripts on the fly. And that would
make OOo far more useful. E.g., want to summon your web site's home page
from OOo, it takes less than a minute to add that to your repertoire. Want
to launch a different spellchecker with one click whenever you want? Piece
of cake. Want a link to that web page you're developing online? A few clicks
and copying and pasting a URL and you've got it. Want to build a custom
toolbar or menu structure for a particular research and writing project?
Populate it with links to the web sites or research
databases that are your primary research sources for that project.
This is not to suggest that the OOo interface is much worse in this respect
than WordPerfect's or Word's, although WordPerfect has an advantage because
of its scripting language and both of those apps include the ability to
easily create "Favorites" that can provide much of the same functionality
described. However, OOo could fairly easily, I think, jump out in front in
this regard. And the documentation needs would be more modest, I think.
I'm not a coder so it's not a project I could take on, although I'd be happy
to help where I can.
Best regards,
Marbux
