The problem with mixing direct formatting and styles is that you usually discover you should have used styles after the document is done and you need to make changes. Our ability to foresee the future is often very limited.I often get asked by someone how to fix something in a long (e.g. 600 page) document without having to crawl through the entire document page by page. My answer is that I can help you not have this problem in the future, but for now it is going to be tricky if not impossible.
Regards, On Thu, Apr 17, 2014 at 10:22 AM, Tom Davies <tomc...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi :) > I think it's great that LibreOffice allows both systems to be used within a > single document. I rarely need to completely change the entire look of any > documents so direct formatting works well for me. > > I think this is one of those things that you can make as simple or as > complex as you like. Just because a choice exists doesn't mean you have to > use it. > > So, my use of style is very minimal but is a HUGE help that saves me often > hours hours of work every time i have to import anything from certain > colleagues. > > The only time i collaborate with others is when they give me documents for > a quarterly newsletter and once i've reformatted their work i tend to never > need to reformat it or make any changes at all. So the only style that > really matters to me is the "body text" one, or the "default" one. The > various headings help a little bit. So although styles can be far more > complicated and allow much flexibility all of that is beyond my > requirements. Even if i did need the more advanced stuff the biggest > saving in time was with the initial "paste as unformatted text" and finding > the text already in the format i wanted. > > I am glad the more complicated stuff is there so that if i ever had more > advanced requirements i could upscale quite easily. > > However i think "scaring people off" by pointing out how complicated it all > could be might make them miss out on the huge benefits they could get from > the very simple bits of it. > > > Oooops! sorry for ranting! I know it's not the way you meant it! Happy > Easter all! :))) > Regards from > Tom :) > > > On 17 April 2014 02:03, Virgil Arrington <cuyfa...@hotmail.com> wrote: > >> >> On 04/16/2014 04:08 PM, Kevin O'Brien wrote: >> >>> Interesting point, Virgil. I think we need to weak a fine line between >>> providing a tool that we can use intelligently, and forcing people to >>> do something they don't understand. Using styles the right way is >>> something you have to be educated about. Like you, I started by >>> getting the idea that I could change styles throughout the document if >>> I used them consistently. But it took longer for me to really >>> appreciate the need to do functional style definitions. Any character >>> can be bold for a variety of reasons, and the key is to create and use >>> styles based on the function of that element in a document. That way, >>> you can change a subset of all of the bold characters without changing >>> others. But that requires starting to really think about the >>> architecture of your information. >>> >>> Regards, >>> >>> >>> Good points, Kevin. I'm learning that using styles takes a lot of >> thought and planning. I like the way I can customize LO to make it do >> amazing things. But, it can't be done thoughtlessly, or you'll end up >> redoing stuff later on. >> >> It occurs to me that, when we create style definitions, what we're really >> doing is making LO work more like LyX. The difference is that, with LyX, >> somebody else has already created really good styles (called >> "environments") thus shielding the user from the need to create them. >> Problem is, when the pre-created environments don't meet your needs, you >> have a steep learning curve to try to change them. With LO, you can much >> more easily create and modify styles, but, if you want really good output, >> you *have* to create and modify your styles, and that takes thoughtful >> planning. For a person just wanting to get his project done, the need to >> create and customize the styles seems to get in the way. It's as if each >> user is actually "finishing" LO by making it work the way s/he prefers. In >> creating my LO styles, I've tried to use LyX environments as a model, >> mimicking their output, and tweaking where I find it helpful. >> >> >> Virgil >> >> -- >> To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org >> Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to- >> unsubscribe/ >> Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette >> List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ >> All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be >> deleted >> > > -- > To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org > Problems? > http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ > Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette > List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ > All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted -- Kevin B. O'Brien zwiln...@gmail.com http://google.me/+kevinobrien Facebook is Evil. Cancel your account. -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscr...@global.libreoffice.org Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
