http://openoffice.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=3959
rustianimal <[email protected]> changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CC| |[email protected] --- Comment #148 from rustianimal <[email protected]> 2011-08-01 08:32:43 --- (In reply to comment #147) > I often use a spreadsheet to create outlines. It's naturally hierarchical, and > has some natural (and unnatural) ways to expand and collapse text. Definitely > dragging and dropping groups of cells, is no problem. In a recent proposal, I > even used multiple sheets at the highest level of delineation...one sheet each > for Intro, Major Idea 1, Major Idea 2.....Conclusion. > > Again, easy to drag sheets around. Major 1, became Major 3....etc. > > I suppose, you could use pivot tables in a creative way, but I've never tried > that. > > I also do my mind mapping in the spreadsheet. Very flexible...a lot of drag > and > drop. Unfortunately, your suggestion misses a major point and that is 'ease-of-use'. An Outliner should be an integral part of the document so that you can take an existing document and restructure its outline, with all its attached content. I regularly create or edit large and complex technical documents. Firstly, MSWord's outliner that we are using as the baseline for this function not only allows the manipulation of topics and ideas as you suggest above, but also ties each of these headings with the pre-formatted Heading style sheets and auto-numbering of the document. This means that while placing your ideas into a structure, it is automatically setting the Heading Style and automatic numbering while you are using the tool, which saves a huge amount of style formatting and numbering compared to pasting details from a separate outliner into the word processor. This function is also extremely useful when editing and restructuring large and complex technical documents. As MS Word ties the text blocks that follow after a particular heading to that particular heading section, it is possible to reposition an entire section of a document to a different place in the outline with ease. MS Word makes it easy to do this complex editing by enabling the text blocks to be hidden to to first line of each paragraph only, or hidden completely, making it simple to isolate large blocks of the document to move around. In general, this outline facility, as implemented in MS Word, is one of THE most powerful features of any word processor and is what keeps many organisations tied into Microsoft Office. If OpenOffice is going to break the stranglehold that Microsoft have in this field, it has to be able to at least MATCH this kind of functionality. Forget the fancy Wizards that Microsoft have, or the screen-real-estate wasting icons and buttons they put all over the place. Just create really good, basic functions such as a fantastic easy-to-use outliner with the ability to move around not just headings, but automatically set their style and numbering and enable the user to manipulate entire sections of a document and you have a winning tool. -- Configure bugmail: http://openoffice.org/bugzilla/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are the QA contact for the bug. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Please do not reply to this automatically generated notification from Bugzilla. Please log into the website and enter your comments. --------------------------------------------------------------------- -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] For additional commands send email to [email protected] with Subject: help -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] For additional commands send email to [email protected] with Subject: help
