Mathias Bauer <nospamforMBA <at> gmx.de> writes: > > Hi Kevin, > > Kelvin Eldridge wrote: > > > Hi, > > > > It would be appreciated if I could receive a candid and open response to the > > question, "should I consider the HTML editor to be end of life?" > > The HTML editor of OOo is quite outdated and lacks a lot of features > that nowadays are expected from a good HTML editor. OTOH it is indeed a > very nice tool to quickly create some HTML documents. > > We definitely will keep the ability of OOo Writer to import, edit and > save HTML documents. It is unclear if we should keep Writer/Web as an > own module. Writer/Web more or less is the same as Writer with some UI > options and features removed. It's open for debate wether the small user > benefit (not being able to do things with the document that can't be > exported to HTML) justifies the effort to maintain the additional code. > We haven't made up our minds about that until now and we are open for > user feedback. I take your mail as a sign that at least one user is > there who uses Writer/Web. > > Did you ever try to edit your HTML documents with Writer instead of > Writer/Web (of course with "Web Layout" switched on)? Perhaps you can > give us some feedback if you consider this to be enough. > > Ciao, > Mathias >
Hi Mathias, I haven't recently tried using Writer to create web pages. In the past if I recall correctly, saving a document created in Writer did not produce the results I wanted. (I should add neither did using MS Word.) I am happy to put time in as required on this issue to help you guys decide, or at least provide one person's feedback. I will try everything you suggest and give feedback. I will try to keep an open mind as my only desire is to find a tool which I feel is good enough for future users. I can appreciate the extra effort and resources required to keep the separate module. For me HTML Editor is one of modules which drew me to OpenOffice.org three years ago and I still think it is one feature which makes OpenOffice.org different from MS Office and in this area, better. I think that is an advantage for OpenOffice.org which I feel would be sad to lose. Although I can also understand that not many people probably even know about, or use HTML Editor. To me it is a hidden gem. Perhaps I should state where I am coming from. I have a background as an IT Consultant. I look for ways clients can do things themselves. I started down the path to promote OpenOffice.org HTML Editor as a tool for end users to create their own web pages and websites. End users don't know or want to know HTML. They just want to create pages. I spent considerable time learning the quirks of HTML Editor, produced a online course and started training people. Then OpenOffice.org appeared to change direction and in fairness to current and future clients, I shelved this area of my work. The client who created his own site www.Open-BookManagement.com completed the online course and now maintains his own site with very little assistance. He regularly thanks me because the DIY approach has saved him thousands of dollars and made changing his website quick, because he can make changes when he wants. So the tool albeit with quirks, and the process works. Even as I write this response I am again looking for a product which will enable micro and small businesses to easily create and maintain their own web pages. OpenOffice.org Html Editor is a good product to get started with. I really find it almost impossible to find a viable alternative. NVU is dead, Composer is coming, Seamonkey is an entire package. Html Editor provides the user pretty much WYSIWYG editing with in-line spell checking. For me any package that does not provide Australian English spell checking is immediately ruled out. So right now I can't find a single other product which is free, runs on PCs, and is good as HTML Editor. The next stage for me is to look for a low cost commercial package and that is what I am doing right now because I am not certain of the future of HTML Editor. I do however think OpenOffice.org has something of value in HTML Editor. But of course that is just my point of view. With regards to using Writer instead of HTML Editor to create and maintain web pages, I feeling is it is not the right tool. It is was I would have used it years ago. I had never thought to try using the Web Layout in Writer so thanks for that suggestion. I learn something every day. To perform the first task you suggested I tried to open an "index.html" file using OpenOffice.org it always opens with Writer/Web. I eventually settled for Insert -> File. Not a particularly clean way to work. Right now to edit a html file I right click on the file and select Open using OpenOffice.org. Very clean and quick. When I saved using Writer I was promoted with the Yes/No for saving as Html. Again not that clean. It also created and saved another copy of an image which I had in an images folder. So at first glance this was also a problem. I suspect using Writer as the interface is not particularly good as it gives users options which do not apply to web pages. The HTML Editor is good because it gives the user only what they can do. (I read yesterday on the users list where a person tried to do a cross reference which they said doesn't work for web pages.) However I should say the above is based on the way I currently work. It may be possible with some thought to approach the work from another direction. For me however this would not be worth the time and effort. The unfortunate position you are in is most of the feedback you will get from users is they don't like HTML Editor because it screws up the source code. This is valid from a technical users point of view. From an end users point of view (which is what an Office suite is all about) this really is a non issue for basic web pages. It does become an issue if people want to add features (eg forms in very specific places), but not for basic web pages (which can by the way be quite elaborate as long as people work within the restrictions of the tool). Thanks Mathias for your as always helpful approach. If you want or need for me to do anything else please ask. Kelvin Eldridge www.JustLocal.com.au PS. Yes you are correct, but may I add there are at least two happy users. I would have had many more by now except for the uncertainty. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
