Hi :) +1 That is true. However i rarely need to do more than correct tpyos or sepling mistooks or maybe reword something. Luckily i don't have to collaborate with other people much either (apart from them sending me hideously malformed MS documents and me pasting their article into 'my' Odt newsletter).
I suspect a lot of people are in a similar position to me but of course a lot are in a similar position to you and also a lot similar to Virgil too. Regards from Tom :) On 17 April 2014 18:20, Kevin O'Brien <zwiln...@gmail.com> wrote: > 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
