Re: [authors] Cross-refs
Gary Schnabl wrote: BTW, yesterday I noticed that an x-ref was incorrectly made to Table 1 instead of Table 2 in Chapter 1 of the Calc guide. Even though Table 2 was only two lines later in the chapter, but Table 1 was a dozen or so pages prior to the incorrect x-ref. Thanks, Gary. I've found that x-refs often end up incorrect when the material has been copied or moved from somewhere else. They should self-correct but sometimes they don't (or they revert to incorrect after saving, closing, and reopening the file). I suspect the problem arises when material is copied from one chapter to another, and the first chapter of each book shares a lot of material with the corresponding chapter in the Getting Started book. --Jean - To unsubscribe, e-mail: authors-unsubscr...@user-faq.openoffice.org For additional commands, e-mail: authors-h...@user-faq.openoffice.org
[authors] Cross-refs (was: ***PING*** Jean or Drew)
Daniel Lewis wrote: JEAN: I want to make sure I have gotten this information correct. When a reference to Figure 1, Table 1, etc., is on the same page as the Figure 1, Table 1, etc.; we just enter Figure 1 or Table 1 in the text: we do not insert a cross-reference in the text. When the reference is on a different page, we insert a cross-reference in the text. If you need to refer to a figure or table, always use a cross-reference; never type it in, because the number could change. However, in many (most?) cases, if the figure or table is on the same page, directly after the text that refers to it, no reference is needed and I recommend leaving them out in that case... but you can put them in while writing drafts and we'll take them out on the final edit. And when we do insert a cross-reference, we insert the reference to Category and Number. Correct? Yes, correct. --Jean - To unsubscribe, e-mail: authors-unsubscr...@user-faq.openoffice.org For additional commands, e-mail: authors-h...@user-faq.openoffice.org
Re: [authors] Dead links in GS Chapter 4 mail-merge in wiki
Reizinger Zoltán wrote: Hi, In this page of wiki (GS mail-merge) http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/OOo3_User_Guides/Getting_Started/Mail_merge contains links to pdf version of Writer guide chapters. Such as: http://documentation.openoffice.org/manuals/userguide3/0211WG3-UsingMailMerge.pdf| And I get error warning, when I try to open them. I don't know it is a right place for this issue. Regards, Zoltan That link works fine for me but it is out of date. The most up to date PDFs of Writer Guide chapters can now be reached from this page on the wiki: http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/OOo3_User_Guides/Chapters Thank you for reporting this. I will fix those links today. --Jean - To unsubscribe, e-mail: authors-unsubscr...@user-faq.openoffice.org For additional commands, e-mail: authors-h...@user-faq.openoffice.org
Re: [authors] Writer, Chap. 8, Working With Graphics
Barbara Tobias wrote: I just uploaded this file to the Feedback folder. I apologize for taking so long and for the fact that I did not manage to work through the last ten pages. I am going to have to back off working on OOo documents. I have recently had to take on additional work for a local art gallery that I've been working with for about ten years. Unfortunately, I am finding that there are only 24 hours in a day and that does not change just because there are at least 48 hours worth of interesting things to do. I appreciate the opportunity to work with this crew--I've learned a great deal in the process--but the art gallery has long been my first love. Barbara Tobias We're very sorry to see you go, Barbara. You've done such great work. But I certainly understand having to make time choices and choosing whatever is most important to you. All the best, and perhaps we'll see you again another year. --Jean - To unsubscribe, e-mail: authors-unsubscr...@user-faq.openoffice.org For additional commands, e-mail: authors-h...@user-faq.openoffice.org
Re: [authors] Draw Guide
Claire, I didn't spot your revision of DG3 Ch3 on the website, but perhaps I missed it. The website won't load for me just now, so I'll look for the chapter again later. Thanks. --Jean Claire Wood wrote: Hi Jean I did take a look at Chapter 3 after Martin had updated it. I'll take a look at Chapter 4 then book it back in. - To unsubscribe, e-mail: authors-unsubscr...@user-faq.openoffice.org For additional commands, e-mail: authors-h...@user-faq.openoffice.org
[authors] Change of address for Authors mailing list
Effective immediately, the Authors mailing list has been moved to a new home, auth...@documentation.openoffice.org This move is necessary because user-faq is no longer a supported/valid project and will not be included in the move to the new hosting infrastructure for OOo. All current subscribers have been copied over to the new list. You do not have to resubscribe. However, you may need to change your email filters to ensure you receive messages from the new list. Apologies for the inconvenience. Please do NOT use the user-faq address any more. The old list will remain available for posts until 31 March, after which it will be locked down against new postings, and subscribers will be removed. I will be updating the links from the OOoAuthors website and anywhere else I can find that points to the user-faq address, but if you spot any I've missed, please let me know. Archives for the original list will be preserved, though at this point we're not sure exactly where. There may be a period of time in which they are not available. --Jean Jean Hollis Weber Co-Lead, Documentation Project, OpenOffice.org - To unsubscribe, e-mail: authors-unsubscr...@user-faq.openoffice.org For additional commands, e-mail: authors-h...@user-faq.openoffice.org
[authors] Draw Guide
I've made some further changes to Claire's edits of Martin's update of Chapters 1 2 of the Draw Guide for OOoV3.x and submitted those chapters for further checking and review. Some pix in Ch 1 still need updating to show the recent icon set; the same pix need replacement in the Getting Started with Draw chapter, as I failed to do them. Thanks to Martin and Claire for their work on this book. Martin's also updated Chapter 3; although I am now home, I haven't been through my 3 weeks of accumulated email to remind myself whether Claire or anyone is working on that chapter. --Jean - To unsubscribe, e-mail: authors-unsubscr...@user-faq.openoffice.org For additional commands, e-mail: authors-h...@user-faq.openoffice.org
Re: [authors] General Observations about English Grammar Use
Claire Wood wrote: I've noticed some common faults with grammar and thought I should raise this, just as a reminder or aid for anyone that is not a native-English speaker/writer. I've come across instances when editing documentation where conjunctions (words that are used to connect two or more clauses, phrases or words together to make longer constructions) are being used to start sentences. The most common words that I've noticed are because and but. It is considered bad English to start a sentence with them. We tend to encourage the use of As instead of because and However instead of but at the beginning of sentences. There are other examples of words to use as alternatives but I thought I'd stick with the most common ones used in technical documentation. [details snipped] Where I have seen but being used in technical documents, at the beginning of sentences, I've changed it for another conjunctive adverb that is more acceptable at the beginning of sentences, for example However. [detailed snipped] Don't ask me why we tend to do it this way, all I know is that is the proper way. If it is done differently elsewhere in the world I'd love to hear about it. Starting a sentence with Because is quite acceptable, at least in American and Australian English. I've co-authored a recently-published book* on technical editing; although I did not write the grammar portion, it definitely gave examples of using co-ordinating conjunctions such as Because at the start of a sentence. My co-authors even used But and And at the start of a sentence; I don't like that usage, but as Gary notes, CMOS promotes it. BTW, in the book we discourage the use of As in place of Because; the two words have different meanings and are often interchangeable. Many rules of grammar are actually conventions of usage, which vary from one country or region to another. You might be interested in reading an article I wrote on this topic: Escape from the grammar trap, http://www.jeanweber.com/newsite/?page_id=23 * Technical Editing in the 21st Century, by Nicole Amare, Barry Nowlin, and Jean Hollis Weber, Prentice Hall, February 18, 2010, ISBN 978-0131196773. (It's a textbook, so it's overpriced. Reference given for information purposes only; I'm not trying to sell it to anyone here.) --Jean - To unsubscribe, e-mail: authors-unsubscr...@user-faq.openoffice.org For additional commands, e-mail: authors-h...@user-faq.openoffice.org
[authors] Ping Claire: GS with Calc
Claire, When I opened the PDF you generated of the Getting Started with Calc chapter, it was missing a lot of text and had spacing and other problems. The ODT seemed to be okay. I have generated a new PDF from the corrected ODT file you provided, and I have uploaded the corrected files to the OOoAuthors website, but this may be yet another symptom of the more general problems that you have been experiencing. --Jean - To unsubscribe, e-mail: authors-unsubscr...@user-faq.openoffice.org For additional commands, e-mail: authors-h...@user-faq.openoffice.org
Re: [authors] Ch15 Writer Guide - Forms
BTW, that's one of the many terms I try to avoid using. Normally it's not necessary for a clear explanation. I think the Forms chapter is one of the few that still includes the term, so if you wanted to revise those bits, feel free! --Jean Claire Wood wrote: Thanks to those who have educated me as to what a spinner is. Most appreciated. Claire :) On 24 February 2010 13:55, Janet Swisher jmswis...@gmail.com wrote: A spinner or spin button is an input field that displays little up- and down-arrows on the right side. It's most often used for integers and dates. The user can click the arrow buttons to make incremental (and decremental, if that's a word) adjustments to the value. Clicking and holding on an arrow button causes many rapid changes in the value for coarser adjustments. I believe the analogy is to dials on a slot machine, but most implementations don't actually show the values spinning. --Janet On Tue, Feb 23, 2010 at 5:39 AM, Claire Wood clairedw...@googlemail.com wrote: Hi Everyone Can anyone tell me please what a spinner is in relation to creating forms using Writer? I've never come across this term before, and how does it work? - To unsubscribe, e-mail: authors-unsubscr...@user-faq.openoffice.org For additional commands, e-mail: authors-h...@user-faq.openoffice.org
[authors] More Writer Guide chapters for review
Hello team! I got a Web connection for my computer yesterday (first time in 2 weeks) uploaded two Writer Guide chapters (9 11) which should not be on the review list. These were reviewed by Barbara T late last year when developers' builds of OOo3.2 were still unstable, and they have not been thoroughly checked to make sure any relevant new/changed things in 3.2 are included correctly. So... someone else needs to have a careful look at them. I've still got some other chapters to do, but may not get to them until I'm home next week. And of course Claire others have been adding to my queue of things to check -- that's what I like to see! Is anyone working on Chapter 4 of the Writer Guide? --Jean - To unsubscribe, e-mail: authors-unsubscr...@user-faq.openoffice.org For additional commands, e-mail: authors-h...@user-faq.openoffice.org
Re: [authors] Introduction and author role request
Ryan Fulcher wrote: 2/24/2010 Hi everyone, This is Ryan Fulcher, and I'm new to the Open Office documentation project as of today. First, I'd like to thank you guys for being so quick to welcome new folks and for making it easy to get involved. A little about me: I'm currently working on my MS in Technical Communication at NC State University, I have a dog named Augie, and I drive a Volvo that's old enough to qualify for antique plates. My interests include photography, illustration and graphic design, and contemporary literature. I'm totally on board with all things Open Source, and I want to help out any way I can. More specifically, I want to help further the mission of the Open Office project, as I think OO is a great suite, one that definitely gives the for-fee competition a run for their money. Professionally, I have a bit of experience and a lot of training with Technical Communication, and aside from that I have a lot of straight-up experience with web design and development, as well as editorial experience at all levels. I'd be glad to provide any work samples you guys might need. Down to business: I'd like to request the role of author. I'm looking forward to getting involved, and I hope to hear from you soon. Best, Ryan Fulcher fulcher.r...@gmail.com Welcome, Ryan. I've given you the Author role. Sounds like you will be a great addition to the team. Most newcomers start by reviewing a document from the Review List (visible in the lower left column after you log in). You'll have to look for the ones in English. Right now we're concentrating on updating the Writer Guide to OOo version 3.2, completing the Calc Guide and writing the first draft of the Base Guide. Let us know what most interests you, and whether you'd like to review a chapter or several or just plunge into writing missing material. I'm only intermittently available this week (back on deck next Tuesday), but others can help answer any questions you may have. --Jean - To unsubscribe, e-mail: authors-unsubscr...@user-faq.openoffice.org For additional commands, e-mail: authors-h...@user-faq.openoffice.org
Re: Fwd: [authors] Ping Jean Writer Guide Authors -- re Writer Guide
Nino Novak wrote: Claire, On Tuesday 23 February 2010 16:17, Claire Wood wrote: I've put in comments for review; there are about 4 or 5 I think off the top of my head, but I'd also like some guidance as to whether there is new functionality to document that I've missed because when I clicked on the new features for 3.2 link on the wiki it returned a page error saying that the link didn't exist anymore. where did you find the bad link? I suppose it was the beta.html, which The final release notes page for 3.2 should be located here: http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/features/3.2/ Nino I have now updated the links from the main OOoAuthors page and the main page for the English section to point to the final release notes and the final release of the program. I hope I caught them all. --Jean - To unsubscribe, e-mail: authors-unsubscr...@user-faq.openoffice.org For additional commands, e-mail: authors-h...@user-faq.openoffice.org
Re: [authors] Getting Started Guide - Getting Started with Presentation/Impress
Claire Wood wrote: Would anyone mind if I use the source document to review and leave comments Yes, please do. Use track changes, change the filename of the reviewed copy (add your initials and date) and put it into the Feedback folder for Getting Started. because when I start Presentation/Impress it goes straight into a wizard and that isn't documented in the Getting Started Guide. Yes it is, several pages into the chapter. However, the presence of that Wizard may be a good argument for rearranging the chapter, which was organised in a similar sequence to the other chapters -- but that sequence doesn't fit what the new user sees. This is why newcomers to our group are so valuable -- you spot things like that. --Jean
Re: [authors] Getting Started Guide - Using Styles Templates
Claire Wood wrote: I noticed a glitch on p16 under Using a Template to Create a Document. Both the Preview and Document Properties icons don't work, they are shaded, so you can't actually click on them. Works for me. However, nothing will show in the Preview pane until you select a specific template. You may need to double-click on a folder to show the list of templates. My templates is unlikely to have any in a new installation, btw. --Jean
Re: [authors] PDF of Getting Started book
JiHui Choi wrote: Hello, Jean. Can I ask something? How can you merge all chapters? I'm working with each chapter files, but I want to provide both chapter and book. Would you tell me how you did? I used this master document: http://www.oooauthors.org/english/userguide3/gs3/V32_published/0100GS3GettingStartedOOo3.odm/view Be sure the chapters and the master document are in the same directory. You may need to change the names of the linked files in the master document to match the names of the translated chapter files -- or make a copy of the translated files and name them to match the filenames in the master document. Some chapters have errors in some of the cross-references when they are put into a book. They had to be fixed manually. The method that works best for me is to export the master document and all the subdocs to one ODT and make the changes manually in that file. Details about exporting to ODT are in the Master Docs chapter of the Writer Guide. --Jean
Re: [authors] PDF of Getting Started book
Gary Schnabl wrote: On 2/6/2010 9:30 PM, Jean Hollis Weber wrote: I have uploaded a PDF of the full Getting Started book (v3.2 edition) to the OOoAuthors website and to the OOo Docs wiki. This PDF is watermarked Free eBook Edition in an attempt to discourage other people from copying and selling it. (Thanks to Gabriel Gurley for the pointer to how to do this using Adobe Acrobat Pro.) I'm working on reformatting the book for the printed edition. --Jean I betcha they will sell them anyway... It bemuses me that some gullible people will actually pay for documentation for a free office suite without first checking to see if any free docs for it exist. Lots of people want a printed book and are willing to pay for one even if a free PDF exists. It's not necessarily anything to do with gullibility. I just want to discourage other people from selling our books at a profit but not contributing to the community... or at least make it less easy for them to do so. --Jean
Re: [authors] PDF of Getting Started book
Gary Schnabl wrote: On 2/7/2010 6:52 AM, Jean Hollis Weber wrote: Gary Schnabl wrote: On 2/6/2010 9:30 PM, Jean Hollis Weber wrote: I have uploaded a PDF of the full Getting Started book (v3.2 edition) to the OOoAuthors website and to the OOo Docs wiki. This PDF is watermarked Free eBook Edition in an attempt to discourage other people from copying and selling it. (Thanks to Gabriel Gurley for the pointer to how to do this using Adobe Acrobat Pro.) I'm working on reformatting the book for the printed edition. --Jean I betcha they will sell them anyway... It bemuses me that some gullible people will actually pay for documentation for a free office suite without first checking to see if any free docs for it exist. Lots of people want a printed book and are willing to pay for one even if a free PDF exists. It's not necessarily anything to do with gullibility. I just want to discourage other people from selling our books at a profit but not contributing to the community... or at least make it less easy for them to do so. --Jean How long before they get ePubbed? Good question. Definitely not this month, as I'll be away from Wednesday until 1st March. And I think getting the other books updated and published in some form has a higher priority on my time than doing what sounds like a lot more fun: learning about ePub. --Jean
Re: [authors] PDF of Getting Started book
Drew Jensen wrote: On Sat, Feb 6, 2010 at 9:30 PM, Jean Hollis Weber jeanwe...@gmail.comwrote: I have uploaded a PDF of the full Getting Started book (v3.2 edition) to the OOoAuthors website and to the OOo Docs wiki. This PDF is watermarked Free eBook Edition in an attempt to discourage other people from copying and selling it. (Thanks to Gabriel Gurley for the pointer to how to do this using Adobe Acrobat Pro.) I'm working on reformatting the book for the printed edition. --Jean Hi Jean, You guys are amazing, the getting started guide before the release - that is really great. I just opened one of the chapter pdf files - It is too bad that you all needed to resort to that watermark, it really does stand out - I understand the issues, it just screws up a really nice piece of work IMO and I am pissed at those that force it by skimming from others. Anyway - it does look graet. I read the final Base chapter and wanted to tell Dan and those that helped him that you all did an excellent job on that. Thanks for it all, Thanks, Drew. For the next book (Writer Guide) I'll try making the watermark a bit less dark. It will still be visible but not quite as bad perhaps. If that works I'll go back to this one and modify the watermark. --Jean
Re: [authors] Adjust order of files
JiHui Choi wrote: Hello, all. I'd like to adjust the order of files in here. http://www.oooauthors.org/ko/userguide3/gs3 However, I couldn't find the way. Would you tell me how to, please? This is not on the usual View tab. Go to the Contents tab. On the right-hand side is a column called Order, with little symbols (4 dots in a square) next to each file. Click and drag a symbol to move the file up or down the list. You may need to click again when you put the file where you want it. Sometimes when you move files, they don't stay where you put them. If that happens, just try again. --Jean
[authors] PING Andreas or Marko: Folder for PT
Andreas or Marko, can you do this? Original Message Subject: [authors] Folder for PT Date: Mon, 8 Feb 2010 00:22:42 -0100 From: Pacheco Vieira pachecovie...@hotmail.com Reply-To: authors@user-faq.openoffice.org To: authors@user-faq.openoffice.org Hi It is possible set up a folder for PT? Pacheco Vieira -Mensagem original- De: Jean Hollis Weber [mailto:jeanwe...@gmail.com] Enviada: sexta-feira, 29 de Janeiro de 2010 21:02 Para: authors@user-faq.openoffice.org Assunto: Re: [authors] Translate Getting Started Guide for PT Pacheco Vieira wrote: I recently did the registration on your website, OOoAuthors. My main objective along with 3 colleagues would translate the manual Getting Started Guide for PT What should be our procedure so that this project can be part of your community? Is a project of your interest? I noticed that there are several translations but not for PT. I develop my work in training people in computer information. Excuse the English but I speak and read wheel but not write. Pacheco, Welcome! We are always happy to add new translations to our website. I have given you the permissions needed to upload files. When your colleagues sign up at OOoAuthors and tell me their names, I will give them these permissions also. Our webmaster, Andreas Mantke, will set up a folder for PT. After he does this, you need to provide a home page for that folder. That is usually a translation of the home page for the website, but you can change it any way you want. You can make any other folders you want under that one. Then you can put translated documents there. When you publish translations on our website, you will also want to make them available through the main OOo project. I am not sure how to do this, but if you need more information I am sure some of the other translators can tell you. --Jean
Re: [authors] Adjust order of files
JiHui Choi wrote: On Mon, Feb 8, 2010 at 10:40 AM, Jean Hollis Weber jeanwe...@gmail.com wrote: This is not on the usual View tab. Go to the Contents tab. On the right-hand side is a column called Order, with little symbols (4 dots in a square) next to each file. Click and drag a symbol to move the file up or down the list. You may need to click again when you put the file where you want it. Thank you, Jean But I can't find Order column and any icon for it. It looks like this. http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/1YdJWvr-yxYN3tGpoNiVqA?feat=directlink We got this sorted off-list. User error. --Jean
[authors] PDF of Getting Started book
I have uploaded a PDF of the full Getting Started book (v3.2 edition) to the OOoAuthors website and to the OOo Docs wiki. This PDF is watermarked Free eBook Edition in an attempt to discourage other people from copying and selling it. (Thanks to Gabriel Gurley for the pointer to how to do this using Adobe Acrobat Pro.) I'm working on reformatting the book for the printed edition. --Jean
Re: [authors] Getting started Guide CH1 - Introducing OpenOffice.org
Claire Wood wrote: Sorry I've been a slow coach. I started reading the published version of this guide off the Wiki and noticed that some links don't work and as I don't know the documentation all that well at the moment I thought I'd comment to you all. Hope I'm commenting on the right list. Yes, this is the right list, and it's quite okay to send notes like this. On p5 of 28 the OOo3.2 link doesn't work in the pdf. Yes, sorry. That page isn't live yet, since V3.2 hasn't been released. I considered putting in the link to the page for the RC, but then I'd have to remember to update and reissue the chapter. So I took the easy way out... but early readers such as yourself do get caught. P9 of 28 The How to install software link needs updating in the pdf I'll check that and fix it. P12 of 28 Quickstarter section doesn't make sense if like me you don't have an icon in your system intray straight after you've installed it. Could really do with a section like the Reactivating section first to show people how to activate it upon start-up. Oh, very good point. I'll put that on the list of improvements to make next time. Thank you! --Jean
Re: [authors] PING: Chapter 3 of Draw Guide uploaded for review
Martin Fox wrote: Dear Jean et al I have uploaded Ch3 of the DG for review. Only a few screen shots need to be redone and I have marked them accordingly. The document has changes switched on so that other NL groups can quickly see where modifications have been made. Thanks, Martin, for this and the earlier chapters. I have now fixed the templates and replaced the files in the Draw Guide folder. I have not done anything else yet on them and don't expect to have a chance anytime soon. Can anyone here replace the screenshots Martin's marked in the Draw Guide chapters? (Peter Hillier-Brook, are you there?) You'll need to use a compatible theme on your operating system: something fairly neutral, not bright blue or brown or whatever, with good contrast. Ask questions here if you're not sure what to do. Please tell the list if you've taken one of these chapters to work on, so someone else doesn't duplicate your effort. --Jean
Re: [authors] Project PT
I need the person's real name. Thank you. --Jean Pacheco Vieira wrote: Hi Plus a member from the team to project PT is already register in OooAuthors website. Is user name is ourcach. It is possible to given permissions to download and upload files on the OOoAuthors website Pacheco Vieira -Mensagem original- De: Jean Hollis Weber [mailto:jeanwe...@gmail.com] Enviada: sexta-feira, 29 de Janeiro de 2010 21:02 Para: authors@user-faq.openoffice.org Assunto: Re: [authors] Translate Getting Started Guide for PT Pacheco Vieira wrote: I recently did the registration on your website, OOoAuthors. My main objective along with 3 colleagues would translate the manual Getting Started Guide for PT What should be our procedure so that this project can be part of your community? Is a project of your interest? I noticed that there are several translations but not for PT. I develop my work in training people in computer information. Excuse the English but I speak and read wheel but not write. Pacheco, Welcome! We are always happy to add new translations to our website. I have given you the permissions needed to upload files. When your colleagues sign up at OOoAuthors and tell me their names, I will give them these permissions also. Our webmaster, Andreas Mantke, will set up a folder for PT. After he does this, you need to provide a home page for that folder. That is usually a translation of the home page for the website, but you can change it any way you want. You can make any other folders you want under that one. Then you can put translated documents there. When you publish translations on our website, you will also want to make them available through the main OOo project. I am not sure how to do this, but if you need more information I am sure some of the other translators can tell you. --Jean
[authors] The future of documentation
Several people have been talking recently about video tutorials, and we have an ongoing discussion here about books (whether ODT, PDF, or printed) vs wiki vs... whatever for delivery of docs. My personal interest is in books in various forms: printed, PDF, and e-books. Because I publish more than just books on OOo, and because I read e-books, I've been looking at the various formats for e-books, the tools required to produce them, and the devices that read them. I am really keen about the new kid on the block, arriving in a few months: the iPad. Here's an article that I found interesting; possibly you will too. iPad: What Does It Really Mean for Content Publishers? http://www.aptaracorp.com/index.php?/ipad.html The iPad is exciting for several reasons, including the fact that its ebooks will use the free and open standard ePub format. Even better, there are free and open source tools available to produce ePub books on Linux, Mac, and Windows. Calibre looks the best to me so far, since it takes ODT as an input format, but I haven't tried it out yet. http://calibre-ebook.com/ As the publisher of the printed copies of our user guides, I am seriously considering adding ePub editions to the collection. They can, of course, be read on a variety of devices, not just the forthcoming iPad. --Jean
[authors] Cross-refs in our docs
Some of our user guide chapters have large numbers of cross-references to figures that immediately follow the sentence or paragraph referring to them; other chapters have very few x-refs in those situations. Because x-refs have a tendency to randomly go goofy when chapters are combined in a book, I recommend that we avoid using unnecessary x-refs. Some are necesary, for example if they refer to a figure on a different page, but many really are not needed for clarity. Let's purge the unnecessary ones. --Jean
Re: [authors] Cross-refs in our docs
TJ Frazier wrote: Hi, Jean, On 2/4/2010 08:07, Jean Hollis Weber wrote: Some of our user guide chapters have large numbers of cross-references to figures that immediately follow the sentence or paragraph referring to them; other chapters have very few x-refs in those situations. Because x-refs have a tendency to randomly go goofy when chapters are combined in a book, I recommend that we avoid using unnecessary x-refs. Some are necesary, for example if they refer to a figure on a different page, but many really are not needed for clarity. Let's purge the unnecessary ones. --Jean Do you know if there's an issue filed on this? I gather that it's not all x-refs, and hard to reproduce. If nobody's come up with a good test case, I'll try downloading all the chapters of whatever (GS3?), and look at the master for problems. (Any hints on what chapter(s)?) I thought I had filed an issue several years ago, but I can't find it. You are correct: it's not all x-refs. Later today I'll look up which chapters have the most problems and let you know. I did some reproducibility tests several years ago but can't find any notes and don't remember details. I suspect that the problems occur in the parts of files that started out in OOo1.x (or even in Word) rather than being newly created, but I'd have to do a lot of research to confirm that. However, it might give you a clue what to look for in the code. BTW, sometimes when I fix the problem x-refs they stay fixed; other times they don't. I suspect, but haven't tested, that the difference is between deleting and reinserting the x-ref field (may stick) vs right-clicking and amending the field (may not stick). I don't know what kludge for the x-ref problem Gary is referring to in his note. I have workarounds for a few master doc problems (not all of them bugs), but not that one... or at least not that I can remember. --Jean
Re: [authors] Request Author Privileges
Kathy Thomas wrote: I'm a new member of OO and would like to have author privileges to contribute to the documentation team. Please let me know if there are any other steps I need to take. Welcome, Kathy! I've given you the necessary privileges. You may need to log off from the OOoAuthors website and log on again before they are effective. If you don't already have a copy of RC5 of OOo3.2, please download it from here and install it: http://download.openoffice.org/all_rc.html You will need it when checking the chapters. Top priority items right now are updating the Writer Guide to OOo3.2 and finishing the Calc Guide. Look in the Review List at the bottom of the left-hand navigation bar (after you log in) and pick any of the English documents there. More info, including links to our style guide, writing guide, is on the first page of the English part of OOoAuthors. Guidelines for reviewers are here: http://www.oooauthors.org/english/userguide3/contribute#review If you feel like jumping off the deep end and updating chapters (not just reviewing them to see if the updates are correct and nothing has been missed), I can suggest some in the Writer Guide. Some chapters need minor changes, while others need major changes; sometimes it's not at all obvious how much work a chapter needs until you start reviewing it. --Jean
Re: [authors] Cross-refs in our docs
Gary Schnabl wrote: Jean Hollis Weber wrote: I don't know what kludge for the x-ref problem Gary is referring to in his note. I have workarounds for a few master doc problems (not all of them bugs), but not that one... or at least not that I can remember. The kludge was for employing x-refs across different subdocuments in a master document--something that Writer was not meant to perform. Or at least, that is what I thought. In any event, I tend to use Adobe FrameMaker for most master document writing/editing. We don't have any x-refs between subdocs, only within individual subdocs, so that isn't relevant to the problems I've been encountering. The kludge to which you refer is in fact OOo working as designed -- it uses a cumbersome but (in my experience) quite workable, though not obvious, method which I have written up in the Master Docs chapter of the Writer Guide. What I wrote there may be out of date and may be easier now (I hope!); it's on my list of things to check when I revise that chapter. --Jean
Re: [authors] [GS3] What are the supplied menus?
JiHui Choi wrote: Hello, all. In page6, ch14 = To modify an existing menu, select it in the Menu list and click the Menu button to drop down a list of modifications: Move, Rename, Delete. Not all of these modifications can be applied to all the entries in the Menu list. For example, Rename and Delete are not available for the supplied menus. = I can't understand what the supplied menus are. I thought they might be the menus which contains submenus, but they aren't. That section describes about modifying an existing menu, so they might not be existing menus. Is anyone who explains for me? I'm translating this document to Korean, so I'd like to know what it means exactly. The supplied menus are those that come with OOo, like File, Edit, Insert. Users can make additional custom menus. --Jean
Re: [authors] Request Author Role
Claire Wood wrote: My name is Claire. I have 5 years experience writing technical documentation in the UK but took a career break in 2003 to care for a family member. I would like to do a bit of everything role wise - read, review, edit, write, publish etc as I need to update my portfolio so I can apply for jobs. I have a particular interest in How To's, User reference guides. I don't mind having a go at any installation documentation. I would love to get some experience creating tutorials. If anyone can offer me some advice on how to go about it I'd be grateful as it has been a while since I last did one and of course technology has moved on. I'm particularly interested in video capture/elearning. My username is clairedwood I look forward to hearing from you Welcome, Claire. I see that Andreas has given you the permissions you need to download and upload files on the OOoAuthors website. Regarding video/elearning: at the moment the documentation/OOoAuthors group itself is not producing any, but I think it would be a very good thing for us to do. (Most of us here are more oriented towards books and wiki publication -- written materials -- but I think it would be really good branch out a bit -- if people are interested and available to do the work. Several people have expressed an interest in this area, but I don't know if anyone has experience and can guide others. That's something to find out. I have some theoretical knowledge (mostly related to planning, instructional design, and script writing) but no practical experience... and no time to do more than direct traffic a little. (BTW, we have listed on the wiki some video tutorial materials produced by other people, and as I'm sure you know there are a lot of (usually very poorly done) video tutorials on YouTube.) So... where to go from here? I will put you in touch with one of the people I know who is also interested in this area, and I will encourage her to join the discussion on this list. Planning is needed, including identifying topics to cover. Meanwhile, you may wish to dig around a bit and see what we already have (books, how-tos, FAQs, etc). The best place to start for an overview of OOo documentation is on the wiki, while the OOoAuthors website has instructions specifically related to the user guides. http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/ http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/Tutorials http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/Dashboard http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/Dashboard/Tutorials/Guidelines http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/Dashboard/Tutorials/Targeted You will notice that several of the wiki pages (anything in the Dashboard area, for example) are incomplete and/or being used as places for planning of where we are going with documentation. Please feel free to get a wiki login (yes, another separate login!) and add any ideas you may have. --Jean --- Jean Hollis Weber Co-Lead, Documentation Project
Re: [authors] PING: Jean DG3 Chapter 1 uploaded for review
Martin Fox wrote: I have uploaded Ch1 of the DG for review. A number of screen shots need to be redone and I have marked them accordingly. I hope I have used the latest (?) template, the goalposts seem to keep moving on this :=) The document has changes switched on so that other NL groups can quickly see where modifications have been made. Great! Thank, Martin. I've taken a copy of it. No worries about the template; I'll verify that it's the latest as part of the publishing process. --Jean
Re: [authors] Ping ***Jean*** added some comments
Leo Moons wrote: I added some feedback in the feedback folder for following chapter GS3 Ch11 Graphics, Gallery, Fontwork (05 Jan 2010) Leo, I can not find this chapter. There is nothing in the Feedback folder for the English GS3 book. I looked in a few other folders but could not find it anywhere. --Jean
Re: [authors] Ping ***Jean*** added some comments
I wrote, Leo Moons wrote: I added some feedback in the feedback folder for following chapter GS3 Ch11 Graphics, Gallery, Fontwork (05 Jan 2010) Leo, I can not find this chapter. There is nothing in the Feedback folder for the English GS3 book. I looked in a few other folders but could not find it anywhere. OK, I found it. Your file had replaced my file in the V3.2 folder. I've got it, and your comments, now. Thanks! --Jean
[authors] Ping Leo: Comments on GSCh11, Gallery Fontwork
Leo, you said in a comment on GS Ch11, Throughout the User interface, Fontwork is written as FontWork, so should this not be the way it is written in the guides? The UI on my system (US English) does not have a capital W in Fontwork, so that is why I have spelled it as Fontwork. All the screenshots in Ch11 have the lower-case W. You also commented on my statement about adding images to the Gallery (You cannot add images to the built-in themes, indicated by an icon of another color.): This is not true, you can add images to any theme. Not on my system. If I try to drag-and-drop into a built-in theme, the image is rejected. If I use the Properties dialog for the theme, there is no Files page. Is this different on your system? --Jean
[authors] New wiki pages on tutorials
Recently I have been corresponding with two people (an instructional designer and a university instructor of technical communication who is looking for real-life writing projects for her students) about producing tutorials or how-to's targeted at specific audience. These docs would supplement the user guides by addressing specific projects that members of the target audiences typically need to do. Quite often, people don't know what questions to ask to find out what they can do or how to do it. I have added two pages to the wiki and put myself on the main tutorials page as the owner: Guidelines for writing tutorials http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/Dashboard/Tutorials/Guidelines Tutorials targeted at specific audiences http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/Dashboard/Tutorials/Targeted Please feel free to add your ideas to these pages or discuss them on the list. --Jean
[authors] Math chapter in Writer Guide
I propose to make delete Chapter 16 (Math Objects) from the Writer Guide and make it into a stand-alone Math Guide. We've already made a Math Guide on the wiki, but I have not yet pulled it out of the ODT and PDF versions of the Writer Guide. This proposed change is to help people find the information better, while avoiding duplication. The other choice is to have a separate Math Guide but continue to have the chapter in the Writer Guide as well. Comments? I would also like to add some more how to do it info, with examples of use, to the Math Guide. At this point I don't know what specifically to add, but I'm sure a wander through the user forum would suggest relevant topics. Would someone like to take this on? Even if you don't want to try writing up the info yourself, doing the research to find topics would help speed up the process. --Jean
[authors] Last reviews for Getting Started with OOo 3.2?
I plan to compile the full book of Getting Started with OOo 3.2 very soon. Please provide ASAP any reviews you are working on. Of course, constant updating will continue as people find errors, so if you're a bit late with a review, your work won't be wasted... just delayed. --Jean
Re: [authors] Spanish translation - OOo Calc Guide
Ricardo Borjas wrote: I'd like to complete the translation of the Calc Guide in spanish. The other Guides (Getting Started, Writer, etc) are being completed, but I see no advances in the Calc Guide. IMO, Chapters 3, 7, and 9 of the Calc Guide are not ready for translation, because the English drafts still need a lot of work. Several other chapters have not been fully reviewed and may be changed before publication also. --Jean
Re: [authors] Naming ranges in Calc
Unfortunately, I am so ignorant of spreadsheet concepts, I am having difficulty understanding either the Help or Andreas' explanation. Here is the exact situation that brought up my question: In Chapter 9 of the Calc Guide (Data Analysis) is a section discussing Data Consolidate. This section includes this sentence about the Consolidate dialog: The Source data range list contains any existing named ranges (created using Data Define Range) ... And in another sentence, If you are continually working with the same range, then you probably want to use Data Define Range to give it a name. A database range (described by Andreas as one particular rectangle of cells by means of an absolute reference $SheetName.$A$1:$X$99) seems to fit in the context of the chapter, because the Consolidate dialog shows ranges defined in that format. But one reviewer said about both these sentences, Surely this should be created using Insert Names Define... instead of created using Data Define Range. So which is correct in this situation? Thank you. --Jean Cor Nouws wrote: Ah, I see that Andreas has given a much more extensive answer already in the other list. Cor Cor Nouws wrote (30-01-10 12:38) Hi Jean, Jean Hollis Weber wrote (30-01-10 05:31) I am thoroughly confused about the choices for naming ranges in Calc. Can someone clarify for me the difference between Insert Names Define and Data Define Ranges? When should one or the other be used? Are the results different in functionality? The Data|Define Ranges is for database ranges. The window title is also different. And if you choose Help in the two windows, you'll see different contents. Regards, Cor
Re: [authors] **PING** Jean: Getting Started with Base
Daniel Lewis wrote: This is mostly a friendly reminder for my earlier email about the Base chapter in the Getting Started Guide. I believe that the caution and note I added about the position and size properties in the Properties window (click the Control icon in the Form Control tool bar to open it) need to be added to this chapter. [...] The changes I made are in the gs3 feedback folder and were made on your latest review 16 Jan 2010. Thanks, Dan. I've now replaced the file in the V3.2 drafts folder with your new file, after changing the publication date and slightly amending the wording in the text you added. That did indeed sound like a nasty trap for the uninitiated. --Jean
Re: [authors] new
Welcome, Christina. I have given you the permissions needed, and I have also written to you in response to your email directly to me about getting students involved. --Jean Christina Penner wrote: I teach in the area of Technical Communication at the University of Manitoba. I'm looking for ways to involve fourth-year students in Open Office documentation. Also, so I can get an idea of the areas requiring documentation, and to get involved myself, could you please grant me author status? Thank-you. --Christina __ Christina Penner University of Manitoba, Department of Computer Science Instructor II
Re: [authors] Translate Getting Started Guide for PT
Pacheco Vieira wrote: I recently did the registration on your website, OOoAuthors. My main objective along with 3 colleagues would translate the manual Getting Started Guide for PT What should be our procedure so that this project can be part of your community? Is a project of your interest? I noticed that there are several translations but not for PT. I develop my work in training people in computer information. Excuse the English but I speak and read wheel but not write. Pacheco, Welcome! We are always happy to add new translations to our website. I have given you the permissions needed to upload files. When your colleagues sign up at OOoAuthors and tell me their names, I will give them these permissions also. Our webmaster, Andreas Mantke, will set up a folder for PT. After he does this, you need to provide a home page for that folder. That is usually a translation of the home page for the website, but you can change it any way you want. You can make any other folders you want under that one. Then you can put translated documents there. When you publish translations on our website, you will also want to make them available through the main OOo project. I am not sure how to do this, but if you need more information I am sure some of the other translators can tell you. --Jean
[authors] Naming ranges in Calc
I am thoroughly confused about the choices for naming ranges in Calc. Can someone clarify for me the difference between Insert Names Define and Data Define Ranges? When should one or the other be used? Are the results different in functionality? Thanks! --Jean
[authors] PING: James Andrew, Re: CG3 Ch9 Data Analysis reviewed
James Andrew wrote: I've finished the review of Calc chapter 9 and it's in the feedback folder awaiting inspection. I had good fun doing it and learnt a lot. I've always wondered exactly how those advanced features work but it really wasn't the impenetrably complex world I'd expected. Like I said: fun. Although I'm keen to crack on with something else, I'm very mindful of the fact that there's an established method and style that's required with this work. I'm therefore going to sit back and wait until I can analyse what was accepted and rejected of my review before looking for another task. Thanks! James, thanks for your patience. I'm running late, as usual. I've now been through the chapter and accepted most of your changes. The ones I didn't accept are relatively trivial: a matter of style and word choice. Your more major revisions are good; you've improved quite a lot on some complex topics. I've left a few comments in the file in answer to your questions. Right now I am attempting to sort out some things that you asked about. That may take another day or two. If you'd like me to upload what I have done so far so you can see what I accepted and rejected, while I'm working on the rest of it, let me know and I'll do so. --Jean
Re: [authors] OOo 3.2RC4 available
Martin Fox wrote: Just a heads up: OOo 3.2RC4, (m10 / 9476) is available on the mirrors for downloading (here in snowy Switzerland at least) regards Thanks, Martin! BTW, how's the Draw Guide going? Now that I've finished (I hope!) a big project I've been working on, I can get back to OOoAuthors. First up is reviewing reviews of the Calc Guide GS anything else in my backlog. --Jean
Re: [authors] homepage for korean section of OOoAuthors
JiHui Choi wrote: Hi, Andreas. ko folder disappears again. When I don't log in, I can't see ko folder in the main page, but I can see ko folder if I visit anypage in ko folder. For example, in http://www.oooauthors.org/ko/userguide3 page, I can see ko folder, even if I don't log in. Would you check again, please? I hope it is okay now. I changed some settings. --Jean
[authors] The cure to list numbering problem when using custom styles
A reader of my blog pointed me to issue 100262, where I learned a much better way to solve the problem. Here is the secret: 1) Right-click on the first list item in the first list in the document and choose Paragraph, *not* Restart Numbering. 2) On the Paragraph dialog, go to the Outline Numbering tab. 3) Under Numbering, choose *Restart at this paragraph* and *1* for *Start with*. Click OK to save. *Note:* If you do not explicitly choose “1″ for Start with, the setting is not retained! This is a bit cumbersome, but works fine. Unfortunately I can see no way to build it into a paragraph style, or we could set up OOoNum123Start to include that parameter. (I'm glad I had not got around to changing the template!) --Jean
Re: [authors] CG3 Ch9 Data Analysis reviewed
James Andrew wrote: I've finished the review of Calc chapter 9 and it's in the feedback folder awaiting inspection. I had good fun doing it and learnt a lot. I've always wondered exactly how those advanced features work but it really wasn't the impenetrably complex world I'd expected. Like I said: fun. Although I'm keen to crack on with something else, I'm very mindful of the fact that there's an established method and style that's required with this work. I'm therefore going to sit back and wait until I can analyse what was accepted and rejected of my review before looking for another task. Thanks! Thank you, James. I'll try to provide feedback to you ASAP, so we can have the benefit of your work on some other chapters without delay. Glad to hear you enjoyed doing it. Working on volunteer projects should always be fun. --Jean
Re: [authors] Re: Please vote for issue 51519
TJ Frazier wrote: On Friday, January 22, 2010, TJ Fraziertjfraz...@cfl.rr.com wrote: Jean, There is a clever, dirty workaround newly posted on the issue. It occurs to me that you might be able to use something similar in the master doc itself, in text sections between the links, which would be much faster and easier. On 1/21/2010 16:03, Jean Weber wrote: Thanks TJ I saw that will try it today. Sounds like a good trick. I have several hidden fields paras in the template so adding this one should do the job. I was going to copy the workaround into a note to the list but my Internet is down today so I'm doing email on the phone. -- Jean Of course that would fix new documents, but I didn't see how it would help for the old ones. Don't sprain your thumbs replying; my 'satiable curiosity can wait. Ok, I'm back online. Technician showed up very early, did stuff, proclaimed impossible error (my words, not his), put everything back together without otherwise changing anything, and it now works. Reminds me of the bad old days of troubleshooting computer hardware faults: he (and Eric) had no idea what was causing the problem (humidity?), but we now know what to do next time. Re spraining thumbs: I use an iPhone so no thumbs involved for me. ;-) I'm adding the new fields, hidden paras etc into the existing docs as I update them for 3.2. Some things come in when I let the docs update themselves from the revised template; others don't. I suspect the workaround won't work unless the hidden para is in the subdoc itself, not in a text area in the master doc. For those interested in the details, I've now copied this from the issue. workaround: The problem occurs only in the first paragraph in the first numbered list. So you can create a hidden section in top of each document and assign a numbering style to the paragraph. That way you can isolate the problem to a hidden area in the document. --Jean
Re: [authors] [GS3] Typos in ch12
Gary Schnabl wrote: On 1/19/2010 3:17 PM, JiHui Choi wrote: in page 4, === If this does not happen, you can enable this feature using Tools AutoCorrect Options and selectingthe URL Recognition option. === I think autocorrect menu is AutoCorrect Option, so it would be better to be changed like this === If this does not happen, you can enable this feature using Tools AutoCorrect Option Options tab and selecting the URL Recognition option. === In page 11, === Chose the information to be listed and the screen resolution. Click Next. === In page 12, === Chose where to save the file and preview the page if you wish. Click Finish. === You might had missed 'o' in Chose. :D A much better means to review the docs would be to employ edit tracking via the Edit menu in OOo Writer. That way, you could generate or improve the source documents directly electronically. Along the way, you could use comments within the edits or notes via the Insert menu for any comments and such. That's the methodology that almost all writers, reviewers, and editors here employ. Gary, I believe JiHui Choi is translating the files, not reviewing them. The translators normally send notes to me or the list when they find errors in the English while translating. If a person is reviewing the English docs, yes it's better to edit the file directly, but I don't expect translators to go to that trouble. It's great when they do, of course, but I don't expect it. --Jean
[authors] Please vote for issue 51519
This issue has been around for awhile. I thought it had been fixed at one point, but it has not been working in recent releases. It affects the compilation of our user guides, requiring a lot of manual checking and fixing of numbered lists. The basic issue is that when CUSTOM numbering styles are used for lists, the first item in the first list in a file does not retain a restart at 1 setting when the file is saved. When files are used standalone, this isn't a problem, but when they are combined (as in a master document), the first list in each chapter continues numbering from the last list in the previous chapter and must be manually changed. We really need this fixed, so please vote. http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=51519 BTW, this is only one of a series of issues related to to the use of custom styles, several of which cause us hassles. --Jean
Re: [authors] Please vote for issue 51519
Andy Brown wrote: Jean Hollis Weber wrote: This issue has been around for awhile. I thought it had been fixed at one point, but it has not been working in recent releases. It affects the compilation of our user guides, requiring a lot of manual checking and fixing of numbered lists. The basic issue is that when CUSTOM numbering styles are used for lists, the first item in the first list in a file does not retain a restart at 1 setting when the file is saved. When files are used standalone, this isn't a problem, but when they are combined (as in a master document), the first list in each chapter continues numbering from the last list in the previous chapter and must be manually changed. We really need this fixed, so please vote. http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=51519 BTW, this is only one of a series of issues related to to the use of custom styles, several of which cause us hassles. Jean, +1. What are the other issues? I'll have to look them up. May take me awhile to go through my files. For the benefit of newcomers... I forgot to mention in my earlier note that the way to vote is to log in to the OOo website, go to the issue, click on the link to Vote for this issue and vote and Submit the vote. Obviously a bunch of people know how, because there are now 4 votes registered. ;-) --Jean
Re: [authors] [GS3] A question about the meaning of presentation
JiHui Choi wrote: Hello. I've found something that I couldn't get it clearly. In page 6, ch12. === Document: the hyperlink points to another document or to another place in the presentation. === In that phrase, presentation means current document, doesn't it? Please, I need your help. Yes, it should read current document. I think I copied this from the Impress Guide and did not change it to a general statement. Thanks for catching this; I will change it. --Jean
Re: [authors] American Library Association (ALA) 2010 national conference
Drew Jensen wrote: Hi, Over the last week there has been some discussion on the marketing mailing list regarding the possibility of OpenOffice.org hosting a booth at this years ALA national conference in Washington, DC USA June of this year. You can find information on this proposal at http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/US/Home/ALA-2010 (the page will be updated over the coming few days as we put together a final proposal) Unfortunately the dead line for acquiring a booth is right around the corner - but not with standing Anyone interested in anyway is encouraged to let me know, let this list know, add your name to the wiki...? I personally feel this event would be a great stage to present the OO.o story at, fertile soil for the planting of seed and am hoping that many here will share my enthusiasm. Thanks for the time and looking forward to hearing ideas, thoughts, comments - questions? I agree that this conference would be a great venue for showcasing OOo, and I hope OOo will cover the cost. I can't come (would love to, but I'm not flying into the USA again if I can avoid it), but I can make printed copies of OOo user guides available at no cost for display at the booth. Printed documentation is usually viewed favourably as evidence of a mature product. By June we might have a set of five books: GS, Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw. I can also make sure Andy Brown has PDFs of the user guides to put on the CDs with the program. --Jean
Re: [authors] Korean translation for Getting Started OOo 3
JiHui Choi wrote: On Sat, Jan 16, 2010 at 4:28 PM, Jean Hollis Weber jeanwe...@gmail.com wrote: After you log in, you should be able to edit the first page of the ko section to translate it. If you cannot, let me know and I'll see what other permissions you need. Hi, Jean. Now I tried to translate the main page by choosing translate into... menu of the main page. However I could choose korean since there wasn't korean option. In the available list of Management Translations page, there are only Bengali, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Romanian, Spanish are. Would you check again, please? I'll try again later. Sorry, I misunderstood what you wanted to do. I don't know how to set that up. When Andreas or Marko see this note, they should be able to take care of it and explain what you need to do. --Jean
[authors] OOo3.2 RC2 is now available
...from http://download.openoffice.org/all_rc.html If you've been using RC1 without problems, and you're not actively participating in QA, you probably don't need to get this one, though quite often the RC2 turns out to be the final release. --Jean
[authors] Dan Lewis: Q re GS with Base
Dan, Following the discussion here about terminology and specifically dialogs, you put a note in the Base chapter about what a dialog is. The location of this note (quite late in the chapter) seems a bit odd to me, given that dialogs are mentioned many times earlier in the chapter. But also, I think the note will become unneccessary soon, because I plan to add something about this into Chapter 1, and none of the other chapters on components (Writer, etc) have anything explaining basic UI terminology. So, I'd like to cut the note out of the chapter, but reuse the contents in Ch 1. I've made some trivial changes in your new material, corrected some style errors, and uploaded the result to the V3.2 drafts folder on the website. --Jean
[authors] GS Ch1 revised uploaded
Agnes, thank you for catching some important errors I had missed. I have also added a short section on dialog (box) controls. I hope I got those correct and didn't forget any of the common ones. Uploaded to V3.2 drafts. --Jean
Re: [authors] Korean translation for Getting Started OOo 3
Andreas Mantke wrote: Hi JiHui Choi, Am Samstag, 16. Januar 2010 16:18:09 schrieb JiHui Choi: I activated the korean language in the framework. Thank you, Andreas and Jean. But please be aware to set the language of the folder and all documents (site and odp) inside the folder to language independent. I'm sorry but I couldn't get it. Would you explain again please? did you translate the start page of OOoAuthors to Korean? I can't see such site inside the ko-folder. Could you please sent me a link to the translated site? Then I check for you, if the language setting is correct. I'll make then a screenshot of the settings of this site (in the English framework) and give a short advice. Maybe Jean can write some short text for an OOoAuthors-Howto ;-). JiHui Choi: Go to the ko folder, where you will see a notice This item does not have any body text, click the edit tab to change it. Click the Edit tab, then type or paste in the Korean translation of the first page of the OOoAuthors website (or write something different, if you prefer). Down at the bottom, click Save. Now the first page of the Korean folder will show the translated test. To change the name that shows as owner of the page, when in the Edit section, go to the Ownership tab and replace andreasma with your name. Andreas: Yes, when I have the information I will write a short how-to. I don't remember how to do all of this either, so I need some instructions too. --Jean
Re: [authors] Can't work with 3.2 (addendum)
Jean Hollis Weber wrote: James Andrew wrote: I was just wondering if anyone sees either of the following two issues with v3.2 RC2 (build 9476) on Windows XP. I want to believe it's my PC that's the problem, not the software. Perhaps you know of an option setting which I should check. Firstly, I'm trying to review a Calc chapter and I need to work with Tools Scenarios. Unfortunately, that option is ghosted out and unavailable. Same goes for a couple of options on the Data menu: Multiple operations and Text to columns. Secondly, if I right-click on the Quickstarter and open an existing document, OOo will usually crash mid-way through opening the file. Works fine if I use any other method of opening. Apologies for this being off-topic for the list but it's preventing me from contributing properly and therefore hugely frustrating. Everything was fine in v3.1, so I'll probably just have go back to that level. It's not really off-topic here; we often talk about issues we're having with OOo not working (as a quick way of finding the answer, which is often it's a bug). I've now checked on my WinXP machine and my Ubuntu machine, and the results are the same (except for the Quickstarter, which isn't on Ubuntu). I see Scenarios and Data Multiple Operations ghosted out until I select a range of cells containing data; then they become available. I suspect Text to columns would become available if I selected suitable cell(s), but haven't checked. Are you saying these menu items don't become available when cells containing suitable data are selected? The Quickstarter crashed for me when attempting to open an existing document, as it did for you. After the crash, OOo's recovery process successfully loaded the document I was attempting to open. Creating a new file using the QS seemed to work fine. Hmmm... the QS has now disappeared from the system tray! Addendum: Scenarios Multiple Ops become available for me even when the cells contain no data, as long as I have selected the cells. --Jean
[authors] Calc Guide Ch1 revised
I'd like to thank Krishna Aradni for an excellent job of reviewing Ch1 of the Calc Guide. I've made some minor wording and formatting amendments but otherwise accepted all of Krishna's changes. The updated file is in the cg3_draft folder. General comment: I'm thoroughly delighted with the quality of work being done by the newer members of the group. The old hands do a fine job, too. Thank you all! --Jean
Re: [authors] Korean translation for Getting Started OOo 3
JiHui Choi wrote: I'm translating GS3 to Korean. I finished from ch1 to ch9 and now working ch10. I'd like to publish them on oooauthors site. If someone helps me, I'll really appreciate. 1. I can't see ko folder on the main page of oooauthors. Of course I can see when I log in though. 2. Can I translate the site? 3. If I need an author role, can I get it? My id is jihuichoi. Your permissions should be okay now, and the ko folder should be visible to people who are not logged in. After you log in, you should be able to edit the first page of the ko section to translate it. If you cannot, let me know and I'll see what other permissions you need. --Jean
[authors] Away for the day
The electricity in my suburb will be off for most of today, so I am going somewhere else that is airconditioned, and I am not taking the laptop with me. I'll be offline from around 2 hours from now for 6-8 hours. See you when I get back! --Jean
Re: [authors] CG3 Ch9 Data Analysis
James Andrew wrote: I've reviewed the first few pages of this and uploaded it so that I can get feedback and advice on what I'm doing before I go too far. I know that I made many more alterations than I expected so I'll understand if someone says no, you've got the wrong idea about this. I'll try to look at it later today, if Gary or someone doesn't get to it first. No promises, but! Meanwhile, do you know enough about bubble charts and and filled net (radar) charts to generate real-world (not trivial) examples of each of these chart types for Chapter 3 of the Calc Guide? If so, I can upload what I've done with revising that chapter before I got to the bit where I had to do too much homework. We need some discussion of what and why, along with a picture or two of each. --Jean
[authors] GS Ch1 (was: Termimology: another question)
Uwe Fischer wrote: For a beginners guide it would be nice to have some illustrations of UI elements, how they look and how they are called. Authors and translators would benefit, too. GS guide Chapter 1 (Introducing OOo) has some of this info (menus, toolbars, context menu, main window elements). That would be a good place to brief description about dialogs and their controls. When OOo changes the UI appearance, that info will be even more important to include. Would someone in this group like to do a first draft of this material (about the current UI) for Chapter 1? --Jean
Re: [authors] OOoAuthors is back
Thank you for your work maintaining the website! I don't know what we would do without you and Marko. --Jean Andreas Mantke wrote: Hi all, the OOoAuthors is up to date now and back online. The update was successfull. Regards, Andreas Am Montag, 11. Januar 2010 18:25:29 schrieb Andreas Mantke: Hi all, the new instance will be down in about one hour (6.30 pm Middle European Time). I hope every thing will be back in about half an hour. Regards, Andreas
Re: [authors] GS3 Ch7 Draw (03 Jan 2010)
Welcome back!! We've missed you. --Jean Agnes Belzunce wrote: Hi Jean I retracted this chapter for a review. I'm back ;-) Agnes
Re: [authors] Newbie wanting to get involved
James Andrew wrote: Hello everyone. You'll excuse me if I don't know the etiquette here. I bothered Andreas earlier, thinking that the website might be broken because I wasn't seeing the options described, then I realised that the most likely explanation is that I need author role permissions. I hadn't asked for them because, with a title like that, I assumed that they wouldn't be needed if I were only reviewing documents (I have no intention of trying to write anything from scratch yet!). So I'm here asking for author rights, if that is what I need in order to access the website as described in the contributor help. I guess one of my first tasks might also be to rewrite the instructions for beginners, too! Am I supposed to introduce myself? Do you want to know who's addressing you? Hmm. I'm from northern Britain but well travelled around the world. I've been in the IT business for over ten years, spending most of it either helpdesking or sysadmining [?], so I'm accustomed to explaining the workings and concepts of software to users. I spent five years at a community college, where older people would come for computer classes, at about the time the internet went mainstream. That really honed my ability to simplify things and make things accessible for people. I hope you'll accept me into your group. Yes, indeed, welcome, James! I have now changed your permissions so you can download and upload files. Thanks for introducing yourself. Your background does sound useful. Feel free to suggest improvements to the instructions. However, I do point out that on the first page of the site it says, as the 3rd point under Getting started: Request author role (reviewers, indexers, or proofreaders as well as writers need this). --Jean
Re: [authors] Permission for translation to PT-BR
Olivier Hallot wrote: I have a request to translate the migration guide to pt-BR. Do I need a specific authorization and who can grant it to me? Also, the translation will partially be sponsored as a service and I would like to konw if I can add the name and logo of the transtation sponsor in the pt-BR translation credits. You do not need authorization. For more info about the licenses, you can click through to the wording from the links on the copyright page. Yes, you can add the name and logo of the translation sponsor in the credits. Please note that the Migration Guide is somewhat out of date. It refers to version 2 of OpenOffice.org and does not include any comparisons or migration info for people coming from Microsoft Office 2007. --Jean
Re: [authors] ***PING*** Getting Started Guide
Daniel Lewis wrote: I have completed my review of the Getting Started with Base chapter and uploaded it to the feedback folder: http://www.oooauthors.org/english/userguide3/gs3/gs3_feedback/0108GS3-GettingStartedWithBase_DEL_JHW_20100108.odt/view I updated some places to agree with Base in OOo 3.2. One set of directions were were wrong, so this set was changed to correct the mistakes. (I don't know if the directions were always wrong or if changes in Base since 2.0 were the reason for the directions not creating the proper results.) Another review might be helpful, but I think what we have no is accurate for 3.2. For JHW if she is in the midst of a warm spell in the middle of summer: here it is presently -18 F (-8 C) at 2 PM with 0.5 - 1.0 (1.27 - 2.54 cm) of snow on the ground. Thanks for the quick work on the Base chapter, Dan. I'll have another look at it soon and then make it available for review by anyone else who might like to go through it. (And thanks for the weather report. Glad I'm not there.) --Jean
Re: [authors] Termimology
Daniel Lewis wrote: OK, I have received the information I needed for context vs pop-up. So I had changed all of them from pop-up, but I will be changing them all back before completing my review. Although consistency would point to using context, beginners would more easily understand pop-up. So understandability is the most important factor for them. The following is found on page 34: 1. To change the font color for the headings: (this line is numbered 3 rather than the 1 shown here.) 1. Right-click on a heading/ /and select *Modify* from the context menu. 2. On the Paragraph Style dialog, click the *Font Effects* tab. Change the font color to Light Cyan. 3. Click *OK* to close the dialog. What is a dialog? I think I understand, but I really doubt most readers of the Getting Started with Base chapter will understand. I would prefer to use the term window since a window is created. A dialog is a window-like box where the user selects items, types info, clicks buttons, etc. It overlays (pops up on top of) a window such as the main Writer window, the main Base windows, etc. The Styles Formatting window is a special case (re terminology). We've had several long discussions about this on the list over the years. I, and some of the other earlier contributors, personally prefer window for almost everything (for the reason you mention, which is the same reason as I prefer simplifying other terminology), but the consensus was to use the term dialog and so all the user guides use that terminology. And the Help does too. BTW, I use dialog and NOT dialog box as Gary prefers because (a) most of the Help AFAIK uses dialog and in any case box is a redundant addition. Dialog instead of window is bad enough. BTW, whenever I can avoid using any term for a dialog (or any control), I do. I've especially purged terms like radio button from the user guides. That can be a useful term in programmer-related docs, but not user docs, where it conveys no useful information. Lastly, if we ever decide to change from dialog to window, we should make that change when a major change in the program itself occurs, because that's when we overhaul all the books. --Jean
Re: [authors] Termimology
Daniel Lewis wrote: Jean Hollis Weber wrote: Daniel Lewis wrote: OK, I have received the information I needed for context vs pop-up. So I had changed all of them from pop-up, but I will be changing them all back before completing my review. Although consistency would point to using context, beginners would more easily understand pop-up. So understandability is the most important factor for them. The following is found on page 34: 1. To change the font color for the headings: (this line is numbered 3 rather than the 1 shown here.) 1. Right-click on a heading/ /and select *Modify* from the context menu. 2. On the Paragraph Style dialog, click the *Font Effects* tab. Change the font color to Light Cyan. 3. Click *OK* to close the dialog. What is a dialog? I think I understand, but I really doubt most readers of the Getting Started with Base chapter will understand. I would prefer to use the term window since a window is created. A dialog is a window-like box where the user selects items, types info, clicks buttons, etc. It overlays (pops up on top of) a window such as the main Writer window, the main Base windows, etc. The Styles Formatting window is a special case (re terminology). We've had several long discussions about this on the list over the years. I, and some of the other earlier contributors, personally prefer window for almost everything (for the reason you mention, which is the same reason as I prefer simplifying other terminology), but the consensus was to use the term dialog and so all the user guides use that terminology. And the Help does too. BTW, I use dialog and NOT dialog box as Gary prefers because (a) most of the Help AFAIK uses dialog and in any case box is a redundant addition. Dialog instead of window is bad enough. BTW, whenever I can avoid using any term for a dialog (or any control), I do. I've especially purged terms like radio button from the user guides. That can be a useful term in programmer-related docs, but not user docs, where it conveys no useful information. Lastly, if we ever decide to change from dialog to window, we should make that change when a major change in the program itself occurs, because that's when we overhaul all the books. --Jean OK, this makes sense. So, to make sure the readers know what I am talking about, I will be adding a screenshot of the dialog and an explanation of what a dialog is in a Note in the text. (Note: as in a Note/Tip/Caution thing). An explanation of what a dialog is is not necessary, though showing the dialog itself may be helpful. None of the other chapters explain in words what a dialog is, and they all show pictures of dialogs (and the term is used in the text). --Jean
Re: [authors] Termimology
Gary Schnabl wrote: On 1/6/2010 8:51 PM, Daniel Lewis wrote: Jean Hollis Weber wrote: Daniel Lewis wrote: OK, I have received the information I needed for context vs pop-up. So I had changed all of them from pop-up, but I will be changing them all back before completing my review. Although consistency would point to using context, beginners would more easily understand pop-up. So understandability is the most important factor for them. The following is found on page 34: 1. To change the font color for the headings: (this line is numbered 3 rather than the 1 shown here.) 1. Right-click on a heading/ /and select *Modify* from the context menu. 2. On the Paragraph Style dialog, click the *Font Effects* tab. Change the font color to Light Cyan. 3. Click *OK* to close the dialog. What is a dialog? I think I understand, but I really doubt most readers of the Getting Started with Base chapter will understand. I would prefer to use the term window since a window is created. A dialog is a window-like box where the user selects items, types info, clicks buttons, etc. It overlays (pops up on top of) a window such as the main Writer window, the main Base windows, etc. The Styles Formatting window is a special case (re terminology). A dialog box (or dialog) differs from a (general) window in that a dialog box has a focus that must be terminated before the application can resume. IOW, it ties up the application until it is acted upon. The Stylist window need not be acted upon and can remain open, if desired. A dialog box disappears from view (and is essentially nonexistent) after its use (i.e., its reason to exist) is over. Thanks, Gary, I keep forgetting that distinction, which is technically correct and IMO only relevant and important to programmers. IMO the distinction is totally irrelevant to most people who are simply trying to use the app. And those people more accustomed to using web apps may rarely encounter the term dialog in other programs and thus are likely to consider it an odd term. That's another reason why I personally prefer calling them windows, though in web apps, the term is just as likely to be page as window. To me, the term dialog is almost as old-fashioned as screen and of about the same relevance to many users: almost none... despite its usefulness to those to whom the distinction does matter. --Jean
Re: [authors] Termimology: another question
Gary Schnabl wrote: A dialog box (or dialog) differs from a (general) window in that a dialog box has a focus that must be terminated before the application can resume. IOW, it ties up the application until it is acted upon. The Stylist window need not be acted upon and can remain open, if desired. A dialog box disappears from view (and is essentially nonexistent) after its use (i.e., its reason to exist) is over. Hmmm... does that mean the Find Replace thingy is a window, not a dialog? Or is it something else again, technically? There are several others, such as Fields, that can be put to one side of the screen and used now and then. They look like a dialog but don't tie up the app until acted upon. --Jean
Re: [authors] Termimology
Yes, that's a good summary of why we decided to use dialog. Cheers, Jean Sak wrote: Well, I think it's actually somewhat important to others. I mean, why not educate the reader in the terminology that's commonly used so that there isn't any confusion later? From my understanding, the term dialog, in reference to a computer program, is fairly standard in the industry, and Gary's definition is accurate--the program is attempting to have a dialog with its user so that it can continue its operation. Beyond a user picking up another book about a different computer program, the help OOo documentation authors saw it fit to use the term dialog in its proper context, so if a reader tries to use the help in conjunction with one of the manuals or the getting started guides, isn't there an increased possibility for confusion? I think that's where consistency is important. Granted, I agree with Jean to a certain extent. My 76 year old mother doesn't understand when I mention a dialog in the context of using a computer program. But then she struggles with window too. To her, they're all boxes on a screen. And as Jean also pointed out, different boxes appear on the computer screen with varying content, and sometimes programmers don't use them the same way. One program may use a window that might be better as a dialog, or vice versa. In my view, all the more reason for consistency among the various forms of documentation for the program we all love. :) Anyway, just my thoughts on the discussion, but to me the dialog is a valid term, even still today, no matter how old-fashioned it may appear. Obviously, things are changing with the increased use of web applications, and as new interfaces are developed that use different methods of input and output and other user interaction. Still, as authors trying to educate users of a software program, I think it's important to use terms that are sensible in the right places. It may be a quibble, but I think it helps the users in the long run, even if at a sub-conscious level. Thanks, Sak. Jean Hollis Weber wrote: Thanks, Gary, I keep forgetting that distinction, which is technically correct and IMO only relevant and important to programmers. IMO the distinction is totally irrelevant to most people who are simply trying to use the app. And those people more accustomed to using web apps may rarely encounter the term dialog in other programs and thus are likely to consider it an odd term. That's another reason why I personally prefer calling them windows, though in web apps, the term is just as likely to be page as window. To me, the term dialog is almost as old-fashioned as screen and of about the same relevance to many users: almost none... despite its usefulness to those to whom the distinction does matter.
Re: [authors] PING Dan Lewis: GS with Base chapter
Daniel Lewis wrote: Jean Hollis Weber wrote: Dan, I am updating the Getting Started with Base chapter. I started working through it as a learning exercise and found that some screens had changed, so I'm recapturing screens and making other changes as needed. --Jean I look forward to reviewing it when you finish. Dan I've submitted it for review. In addition to including some new screenshots, I revised some material a bit and cut out some text and illustrations that I considered either repetitious or not needed in this chapter (pix of context menus, for example). IMO this is a very well written chapter, though a bit longer than ideal for this book. I tried to shorten it, but without removing anything essential. http://www.oooauthors.org/english/userguide3/gs3/V32_drafts/0108GS3-GettingStartedWithBase_JHW_20100105.odt/view --Jean
[authors] Re: Frame style anchoring
Previously, I wrote: Daniel Lewis wrote: I agree with the change in fonts also. While making the changes, what about the OOoFrame style? It is anchored to the page rather than to the paragraph or character. Yet that is not what most authors are using. Data from this style: position horizontal is 0.64 cm from the left of page text area, and position vertical is 0.00 cm from the top of page text area. I have been using the OOoFrame style as it is and then moving the frame to the place on the page where I want it. What am I suppose to be doing? I get a little bit confused when I need to make changes to where the frame should be anchored every time. Depends on what you are using the OOoFrame style for. Frames holding anything such as screenshots and other figures that should be part of the text flow should usually be anchored as character (NOT to paragraph) in an empty paragraph, because anything anchored to page disappears when the doc becomes part of a master doc. However, IIRC, the last time I looked (quite awhile ago) the anchoring selection was not saved with the frame style. I'll check in OOo3.2, in case this may have changed. If not, no doubt there is an old issue filed about it. I checked: there is no provision in a frame *style* to save an anchoring selection. I don't know if there is an enhancement request filed on this, or not. --Jean
[authors] Book and chapter templates updated again
I started putting together a test master document for the GS book and discovered that some further tweaking of the chapter and book templates was needed to make this work. So I've done that and uploaded the revised files. The tweaks involved adding two paragraph styles some hidden fields to ensure that parts of the chapter files are hidden when they are combined into a book. The hidden elements are the guide name and the designed to be read onscreen notice on the chapter title page, plus the chapter copyright and TOC pages. Soon I will update the explanations about the styles in the templates and the instructions for using them to produce a book. Later I'll be putting together master docs for the various books and uploading them as well. But now... back to writing/reviewing/editing for awhile... --Jean
Re: [authors] Book and chapter templates updated again
Daniel Lewis wrote: Jean Hollis Weber wrote: I started putting together a test master document for the GS book and discovered that some further tweaking of the chapter and book templates was needed to make this work. So I've done that and uploaded the revised files. The tweaks involved adding two paragraph styles some hidden fields to ensure that parts of the chapter files are hidden when they are combined into a book. The hidden elements are the guide name and the designed to be read onscreen notice on the chapter title page, plus the chapter copyright and TOC pages. Soon I will update the explanations about the styles in the templates and the instructions for using them to produce a book. Later I'll be putting together master docs for the various books and uploading them as well. But now... back to writing/reviewing/editing for awhile... --Jean http://www.oooauthors.org/english/userguide3/res3/OOo3_book_template.ott/view This is the link to the latest chapter template. For the record, that's the book template. You've got the chapter template right in your second note. --Jean
[authors] Frame style anchoring (was: Fonts used in User Guides)
Daniel Lewis wrote: I agree with the change in fonts also. While making the changes, what about the OOoFrame style? It is anchored to the page rather than to the paragraph or character. Yet that is not what most authors are using. Data from this style: position horizontal is 0.64 cm from the left of page text area, and position vertical is 0.00 cm from the top of page text area. I have been using the OOoFrame style as it is and then moving the frame to the place on the page where I want it. What am I suppose to be doing? I get a little bit confused when I need to make changes to where the frame should be anchored every time. Depends on what you are using the OOoFrame style for. Frames holding anything such as screenshots and other figures that should be part of the text flow should usually be anchored as character (NOT to paragraph) in an empty paragraph, because anything anchored to page disappears when the doc becomes part of a master doc. However, IIRC, the last time I looked (quite awhile ago) the anchoring selection was not saved with the frame style. I'll check in OOo3.2, in case this may have changed. If not, no doubt there is an old issue filed about it. --Jean
[authors] Artlcle on open source user assistance
This article may be of interest to members of the group. (Janet contributed to OOoAuthors for several years as a technical editor and played a major role in developing our style guide and writer's guide as well as editing docs.) Open Source User Assistance: Ensuring That Everybody Wins, by Janet Swisher http://www.osbr.ca/ojs/index.php/osbr/article/view/1024/984 This article references several others that I found of interest, including one by Bruce Byfield: http://tinyurl.com/ybda7a6 or for those who don't like clicking on redirect URLs: http://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/Blogs/Off-the-Beat-Bruce-Byfield-s-Blog/Information-sources-for-documenting-free-software?blogbox --Jean
[authors] Fonts used in User Guides
Long ago we chose Bitstream Vera Sans/Serif/Sans Mono for our standard font set, because two reasons: (a) those fonts shipped with OOo and therefore should be available to everyone at OOoAuthors, regardless of operating system, and (b) those fonts are readable both onscreen and in print, an important consideration for users of our documents. However, Bitstream Vera fonts are no longer included with OOo. Now the closest equivalent (which is identical in appearance) is Deja Vu Sans/Serif/Sans Mono. I think we should change our template to use Deja Vu. This is a good time to make that change, since we're updating all the files for V3.2 anyway. I will be applying the latest template to each chapter as I publish it. Any comments? Reasons I haven't thought of for why we should not make such a change? Problems I haven't thought of? Otherwise, I will go ahead and change the template. I have a few other items to fix at the same time (such as places where the next style is wrong). --Jean
[authors] Updated Getting Started chapters + publishing plans
I've updated most of the Getting Started guide chapters for 3.2 and am working on the others. They're on the Review List. Would be good if someone would review them. I'd like to publish the second edition of the book when OOo3.2 is released in January. Next up on my publishing list is the Writer Guide and/or the Calc Guide (despite its flaws). I want to get both of them out by the end of January... 7th Feb at the latest (I then go away for 3 weeks' holiday). Meanwhile, with luck, Martin Fox will get the rest of the Draw Guide updated and Michele Zarri will do the same with the Impress Guide. That's a hint, guys! --Jean
Re: [authors] The role of reviewers
Sak wrote: Krishna Aradhi wrote: - Can reviewers add whole sections to the document under review if they feel that the author of the document has missed out on explaining some feature? Or should the review merely insert a note into the document explaining what can be added to the document? I'd say yes. There are a few areas of the manuals that haven't seen revision in some time, and so you're likely to encounter chapters that need an almost complete rewrite. I've rewritten entire sections in chapters, particularly during a major version release. When you upload it, the revisions can still be double checked and approved or sent back for further review, so it's better to go ahead and write the changes and go from there. As Sak said, reviewers can add sections, but if you're unfamiliar with the other chapters in the book, or the contents of other books, you might ask first if a topic is covered elsewhere already. If the topic is already covered, perhaps it should be moved, or perhaps a brief mention with a cross-reference would be better. - Can reviewers change the sequence of various sections in the document under review? Or is inserting a note recommending which sections can be rearranged enough? For this I'd suggest discussing in a comment in the document or here on the mailing list. Rearranging a chapter can have far reaching indications, affecting indexes, tables of contents, etc. Don't hesitate to bring it up though. If you think a better arrangement would help the user understand the material more clearly, by all means, put it up for discussion. Yes, reviewers can rearrange the sequence of sections in a chapter. I think this is less likely to need discussion here first. Several newcomers to the group have done major restructuring of some chapters recently, without prior discussion, and the results have been definite improvements. Indexes and tables of contents fix themselves when they are updated, so that is not a consideration IMO. However, what can be affected is similar chapters or sections in other books. For example, we try to keep all the introductory chapters at much the same level of detail, and all the chapters about printing or templates or customizing etc approximately the same (except for component-specific differences), and so on. Really major changes (e.g., in the contents and sequencing of chapters in a book) may need to wait for another major release of the software. We made some big changes between OOo2.x and OOo3, after compiling quite a long wish list in the last year or so of OOo2.x. --Jean
[authors] Need help re Bubble charts and Filled Net (Radar) charts
Two new chart types have been added to OOo: Bubble charts and Filled Net (Radar) charts. I need some help to generate real-world (not trivial) examples of each of these chart types. Need some discussion of what and why, along with a picture or two of each. See Chapter 3 (Charts and Graphs) of the Calc Guide for an idea of how the other chart types have been described and illustrated. I have been taking screen captures of new and changed dialog boxes to replace many of those in that chapter, so if you look at the existing version, don't worry about the out of date items at this point. --Jean
[authors] Release Candidate 1 of OOo3.2.0 is now available
You can get it here: http://download.openoffice.org/all_rc.html (The http://download.openoffice.org/next/ page is now showing a developers build leading to the next version after 3.2.) --Jean
[authors] Tracking spreadsheet for OOo3.2 User Guides
I have been using a spreadsheet at Google Docs to track work on the OOo user guides. I have now updated it and am making it available to other members of the group to view. Please contact me if you want edit permission so you can update it. (I think you may need to have an account at either Google or Gmail before you can edit; I'm not sure about simply viewing the spreadsheet.) If you have suggestions on how to make it more useful, please let me know. No doubt I will revise it (add/change columns) as I work with it. Here's the link: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Asjap9kyrWy_cEpMNl84S3NpVElHTUNDaWZkNlB6V2chl=en Nino, I still want to pursue your suggestions about other ways to do this, either on the OOo wiki or the OOoAuthors website, but I thought this might do for now. Works for me, anyway. ;-) --Jean
Re: [authors] Join OOoAuthors as an author
Krishna Aradhi wrote: I'd like join OOoAuthors as an author. Can you please add me to the project? As I am new to OpenOffice, I'll start off by reviewing documents which are up for review, and eventually move on to writing the documents myself :) Done! Welcome to the group. The next time you log in, you should see the Review List in the lower left-hand column of each page. There are chapters in several languages, so you may need to hunt around a bit to find ones in English. Instructions for reviewing are on the various pages linked from the first page of the English section, http://www.oooauthors.org/english Please feel free to ask questions; newcomers always have questions. If you prefer to work on the wiki, you can do that too. Because we are updating the documents for V3.2, please be sure you have a copy of the latest developers build of OOo3.2, available here: http://download.openoffice.org/next/ (You can have both this version, and the stable 3.1.1 version, on the same computer, if you wish.) Please tell us a bit about yourself (whatever you want to say). Are you interested in any particular part of OOo: spreadsheets, database, presentations, word processing? What operating system do you use? Do you have technical writing experience? --Jean
[authors] Chapter template updated
Today I replaced the chapter template with one that contains fewer errors and is updated to OOo V3.2. I added an instructional box to the cover page, updated the link (in the copyright page footer) to published ODTs on this website, corrected the Contents 4 style definition, rationalised the font sizes of headings, and corrected the nested lists in the template itself. http://www.oooauthors.org/english/userguide3/res3/OOo3_chapter_template.ott/view Please use this revised template for any new chapters. If you put it in the templates folder for your OOo installation, then when you open existing chapters, you should get a message asking if you want to update styles. Choose YES. Note that this will not change the link to our website or add the boxed info to the cover page of an existing chapter; that must be done manually. Thanks to Gary for the work he has done previously on the template. --Jean
[authors] Picky things for reviewers to check
I just had another example of the picky things that reviewers need to check but often fail to notice. With OOo3.1, the menu path to the Navigator changed from Edit Navigator to View Navigator. A user noticed that the WG showed the wrong path. The WG has not been updated since 3.0, so even if one of us had noticed the change and amended the books, the change would not have reached the PDF on the website that this user was reading. Since we haven't done a proper update of the WG for 3.x since it was released (for 3.0), the changes for 3.1 seem to have been overlooked, as they are not covered in the lists of changes for 3.2 (AFAIK). Now that I've started looking at this page, I'm finding other 3.1 things that need to be updated along with the 3.2 changes: http://development.openoffice.org/releases/3.1.0.html --Jean
[authors] List of new features in OOo3.2, in plain English
List of new features in OOo3.2, in plain English. http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/features/3.2/beta.html
Re: [authors] List of new features in OOo3.2, in plain English
Dan Lewis wrote: On Thu, 2009-12-10 at 06:20 +1000, Jean Hollis Weber wrote: List of new features in OOo3.2, in plain English. http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/features/3.2/beta.html It might be well to check these out. Having researched changes in Base, there are 5 features which are not mentioned in this link. All of them involve the properties browser, the Properties window which opens when the control icon is clicked in the Form Controls toolbar. The same might be the case for the other OOo components. The page does say it's incomplete, so as Dan says, checking the other lists is needed for completeness. OTOH, I picked up some things from that page which I hadn't spotted (or understood) on other lists). And I think the linked page doesn't cover some of the changed features. Unfortunately, I've found that most lists are not written in easily understood language, and mostly consist of links to bug reports that I don't understand, so I don't get much out of them... though Michele Zarri's summary from some time ago helped quite a bit. --Jean
Re: [authors] List of new features in OOo3.2, in plain English
Dan Lewis wrote: On Thu, 2009-12-10 at 07:56 +1000, Jean Hollis Weber wrote: Dan Lewis wrote: On Thu, 2009-12-10 at 06:20 +1000, Jean Hollis Weber wrote: List of new features in OOo3.2, in plain English. http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/features/3.2/beta.html It might be well to check these out. Having researched changes in Base, there are 5 features which are not mentioned in this link. All of them involve the properties browser, the Properties window which opens when the control icon is clicked in the Form Controls toolbar. The same might be the case for the other OOo components. The page does say it's incomplete, so as Dan says, checking the other lists is needed for completeness. OTOH, I picked up some things from that page which I hadn't spotted (or understood) on other lists). And I think the linked page doesn't cover some of the changed features. Unfortunately, I've found that most lists are not written in easily understood language, and mostly consist of links to bug reports that I don't understand, so I don't get much out of them... though Michele Zarri's summary from some time ago helped quite a bit. --Jean I have a list of the changes in Base in an ODF file. Is there a place I can upload this file for those who would like to see it? Dan How about here? http://www.oooauthors.org/english/userguide3/db3 And thanks, Dan! --Jean
Re: [authors] CG3 Ch1 Introducing Calc
Emma, To find out which build you're using, look in Help About OOo-dev. It will say something like this: OOo-dev 3.2.0 OOO320m6 (Build:9459) --Jean Emma Kirsopp wrote: I have submitted this chapter back into the draft folder. I am not sure which build of 3.2 , I am using it on Ubuntu version 9.10 Thanks Emma On Sat, Dec 5, 2009 at 11:03 PM, Jean Hollis Weber jeanwe...@gmail.comwrote: Emma, You can unretract a chapter by submitting it again. No need to clutter up the feedback folder with unchanged files. Which build of 3.2 are you using, and on what operating system? When you say it doesn't work properly, what problems are you experiencing? --Jean Emma Kirsopp wrote: After all that I cannot get 3.2 to work properly on my machine. Also, at the moment I am unable to review this chapter (Chapter 1 Introducing Calc.) Having made no changes yet, do I upload it to the feedback folder with a note, or is there another way to un retract the chapter for someone else to work on? Thanks Emma On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 4:26 PM, Jean Hollis Weber jeanwe...@gmail.com wrote: Emma Kirsopp wrote: After retracting this chapter to review and check against the application, I realised that I am using Open Office 3.2. Should I carry on with reviewing it with version 3.2 or is it best to review it against version 3? Please continue reviewing using V3.2. We are updating all the chapters to V3.2. Thanks! --Jean
[authors] Another thing to check when reviewing
When reviewing a chapter, another thing to check is references to other parts of the chapter. Occasionally a writer has typed in the name of a section instead of using OOo's cross-referencing feature. Reviewers should either correct the problem (by converting the hard-coded x-ref to an automatic one) or notice if the referenced topic is not in the chapter. I just discovered such an error in a chapter that has recently been reviewed by two people, neither of whom reported the problem, although there was nothing even remotely like the x-ref'd topic in the chapter. I don't expect reviewers to know where missing topics have gone, but I do expect them to make a note that the referenced topic isn't there. --Jean
Re: [authors] Need reviewers for Writer Guide
Barbara Tobias wrote: On Mon, 2009-11-23 at 21:54 +1000, Jean Hollis Weber wrote: We need volunteers to check the following chapters in the Writer Guide against OOoV3.2 (and make any other revisions you think are necessary to improve the chapters): 09 Working With Tables 11 Using Mail Merge 13 Working With Master Documents 14 Working With Fields 15 Using Forms In Writer Download the .odt files from here: http://www.oooauthors.org/english/userguide3/writer3/WG3_published/folder_contents --Jean I just uploaded Chapter 11, Using Mail Merge, to the Feedback folder. Are 13, 14, and 15 still awaiting review? Gary did 13, but AFAIK 14 and 15 still need reviewers. Thanks! --Jean
Re: [authors] Need reviewers for Writer Guide
30 Nov 08 is the latest revision of that chapter. Fields is one of many chapters that have been neglected for a long time. --Jean Barbara Tobias wrote: I just downloaded 14, Working With Fields, from WG3 published and noticed the publication date was 2008. Am I picking it up from the wrong location? Barbara On Fri, 2009-12-04 at 05:59 +1000, Jean Hollis Weber wrote: Barbara Tobias wrote: On Mon, 2009-11-23 at 21:54 +1000, Jean Hollis Weber wrote: We need volunteers to check the following chapters in the Writer Guide against OOoV3.2 (and make any other revisions you think are necessary to improve the chapters): 09 Working With Tables 11 Using Mail Merge 13 Working With Master Documents 14 Working With Fields 15 Using Forms In Writer Download the .odt files from here: http://www.oooauthors.org/english/userguide3/writer3/WG3_published/folder_contents --Jean I just uploaded Chapter 11, Using Mail Merge, to the Feedback folder. Are 13, 14, and 15 still awaiting review? Gary did 13, but AFAIK 14 and 15 still need reviewers. Thanks!
