Well I've heard it all now <smile>.
I suppose you'd better not use Text Edit because it will look too
text edity <smile>.
Seriously though, I think what your friends may have meant (and this
is only a thought) that the styles were common, say seeing something
with a margin of an inch all round the page, paragraphs styled in a
common way etc. Only my opinion again but I think people can go just
over the top with all sorts of things, word processors included say
with font changes, style changes etc.
On 21/09/2007, at 5:42 AM, James Austin wrote:
My friends tell me that the documents are beautifully formatted,
they do not "look" word processed - whatever that means. Do word
processed documents have a certain "look" to them, can people tell
that something is word processed? just curious.
Thanks
James
On 20 Sep 2007, at 19:16, Dane Trethowan wrote:
Well, I used an Ibook and a Power PC Mac Mini up until 4 weeks ago,
used Nisus and every other damn thing on it <smile>. I must say
though and I hope people don't take any offense at this as I don't
mean to be offensive but how could a blind person produce a
document better than a sighted person can if he cannot see the
documents sighted people produce? Sure, you do the best you can but
the claim made here I think is.... well at best... a little odd.
On 21/09/2007, at 12:50 AM, James Jolley wrote:
To a point but it comes over slightly arrogant.
Just because you can use a word processor or write well doesn't
make you any better than anyone else. Actually, you didn't really
need a mac book pro for VO, I only have the standard mac book and I
am doing perfectly fine.
----- Original Message ----- From: "VaShaun Jones" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
llc.com>
To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac
OS Xby theblind" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2007 2:58 PM
Subject: Re: MS Word alternative
What I do is bid on government contracts for local and state
scripting and training work for blind or low vision companies. MS
Word has been great but like I said I spend most of my time
formatting documents, as every bid is different. It is my
determination to create documents better than a sighted person. I
don't use word processors to type text I use it as a vehicle to
ensure that we have jobs as blind. I do this by being the best
example through my work. If they looked at my documents usually
about 75 pages and said it was OK to turn in shoddy work because
he is blind. That would infuriate me and make us as a whole go
back a few notches. I am willing to learn whatever is needed to
get ahead. I walked into Micro Center and said give me that big
bad Mac Book Pro, the guy asked if I was doing graphics design or
something. I smiled and told him nope just VO. He said then you
don't need that much computer for that. I said I will master it in
two months and come back and teach you a few things. I say all of
that because I asked for a perfect word processor and it sounds
like Latex is just that. I don't take the easy way out. I hope you
understand what I do and why I do it.
----- Original Message ----- From: "James Jolley"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of Mac
OS X by theblind" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, September 20, 2007 4:10 AM
Subject: Re: MS Word alternative
Hi Dane,
Yeah it seems odd to me. After all, if Tex is all its cracked up
to be wich it is in it's proper circle, why have screen reader
folks spent all this blody time getting office and other things
doable? Why not have everyone learn tex? After all, this guy who
is working for the government, surely they they should train him
on using it then?
On 20 Sep 2007, at 05:20, Dane Trethowan wrote:
Ok, well my only further comment is to go and try these things,
I've made my points as have others, see what you think but again
I will state as others have that it sees odd to me at least
that you have to "learn" how to use a word processor,
formatting or no formatting, reports or no reports etc. I'm
curious to know exactly what you would do that anyone else
wouldn't, that is to say what you would do that any good word
processor wouldn't handle.
On 20/09/2007, at 8:52 AM, VaShaun Jones wrote:
Fine for you unfortunately for me. I use every aspect of Windows
imaginable for government reports and contracts and they have to
be perfect. I spend the majority of my time formatting.
----- Original Message ----- From: "James Jolley"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the use of
Mac OS X by theblind" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 6:45 PM
Subject: Re: MS Word alternative
Well, using TEX for it's intended purpose laying out formulas
is ideal. I still don't see the point in using it to write
standard texts though. Any good word processer will do the
job ust as well to be honest. It's up to yourselves though if
you want to jump through a thousand hoops to write anything I
am happy with word or whatever for standard work.
On 19 Sep 2007, at 21:56, James Austin wrote:
Wow! I have looked at that side of it, and I'm pleased I
don't study maths
On 19 Sep 2007, at 19:59, James Jolley wrote:
It's not that steep I use it all the time for mathematics
On 19 Sep 2007, at 18:18, Greg Kearney wrote:
That's right the learning curve is steep with TeX, the
rewards are well worth it however.
Greg
On Sep 19, 2007, at 11:05 AM, James Austin wrote:
It is free, but please get in touch if you've not used it
before, it is not simply a case of typing as with a word
processor
On 19 Sep 2007, at 17:23, VaShaun Jones wrote:
I think I will be getting Latex . Is it totally
accessible and how much does it cost?
----- Original Message ----- From: "James Austin"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "General discussions on all topics relating to the
use of Mac OS X by theblind" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 10:19 AM
Subject: Re: MS Word alternative
Hi,
Okay, well there is IText Express, a small free word
processing application, similar to Text Edit, which
provides the ability to add footnotes. There is also
Nisus Writer Express, or Nisus Writer Pro, you can
find these at
www.nisus.com
Neither Express or Pro are currently 100% usable with
VO, but very nearly. If you were thinking of purchasing
Nisus Writer, I would recommend the Pro version, as
that seems more accessible.
There is also Latex (pronouned Laytech), which is a type-
setin tool. It is extremely powerful and versitle, but
does require time to learn. Although, the benefits are
rewarding, especially for Blind users in my personal
opinion, as I use it exclusively for my University
assignments. I don't want to clutter the list with
discussions about Latex, so please feel free to E Mail me
off list, if you'd like to know more.
Hope this helps
James
On 19 Sep 2007, at 08:55, VaShaun Jones wrote:
Listers somewhere before I got familiar with my Mac
their was a discussion about a professional word
processor. I wanted to know what it was and how can I
get it? Note: one of its liked features is that you
don't have to worry about formatting (a lister reported).
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Email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Email [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Skype: callto:grtdane12
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