Eric,
I would fully agree with you if OO worked like WP, but they work entirely
differently.
In WP, I can be in the middle of a paragraph and suddenly change some
formatting parameter. WP will then insert the new formatting code in the
middle of the paragraph where my cursor happens to be. Formatting is then
changed from that point forward. So, when my formatting suddenly changes,
and I don't know why, I have to search for the wayward formatting code. If
you delete the code, the document reverts to its last previous formatting
code, wherever it might be. WP then *requires* reveal codes simply because
of the way it inserts formatting codes anywhere in the document in a linear
fashion (much the way a typewriter might work).
OO (and other style-based programs) format on a paragraph-as-a-whole basis.
Formatting codes aren't inserted in mid-paragraph as they might be in WP
(unless it's character formatting like Boldface or Italics, which is clearly
seen onscreen). If your cursor is in mid-paragraph and you change a
paragraph formatting parameter, OO will apply that to the entire paragraph
*without* inserting a code at that particular cursor location. Formatting
codes aren't inserted in a linear fashion as they are in WP. And, formatting
isn't changed by deleting wayward formatting codes because there aren't any
wayward formatting codes. So, even if you had reveal codes, there would be
few codes to actually reveal. And the codes that would be revealed would
simply show the same thing that can be seen onscreen (this paragraph is
double spaced, that paragraph is indented).
Like you and others, I was originally put off by the lack of reveal codes in
OO. But, once I learned the different program paradigm, I realized that
reveal codes would be totally superfluous in a program like OO because
formatting is handled at the paragraph level, not in a linear stream of text
plus codes. Since learning how the program works with paragraph formatting
and, especially, styles, I've never found any need whatsoever for reveal
codes.
Virgil
-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Fenster
Sent: Saturday, June 22, 2013 8:24 AM
To: users@openoffice.apache.org
Subject: Re: Codes
Whoopee! The absence of reveal codes is up for discussion again, and we
continue to have defenders of the absence of this great WP tool.
It allows SEEING where things happen and CHANGING them by deleting the
codes.
It is an ADDITIONAL convenience, not a requirement. Nobody is forced to
display the reveal codes window.
--- On Fri, 6/21/13, Virgil Arrington <cuyfa...@hotmail.com> wrote:
From: Virgil Arrington <cuyfa...@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Codes
To: users@openoffice.apache.org
Date: Friday, June 21, 2013, 2:24 PM
There *is* a "reveal styles." It's in
the Formatting Toolbar, where the style for the paragraph
containing the cursor is clearly displayed. Press F11 and
you'll get a list of all the available paragraph styles.
Right click on any one of them, click "Modify" and you can
see all of the formatting characteristics applying to that
style. Make any formatting changes you want and they will
apply to any paragraph having that particular style.
As for other formatting parameters, you don't need a code to
tell you that a word is in Boldface as it will appear in
Boldface on the screen. Blue text will appear blue, and you
won't need a code to tell that. Now, you may not know *why*
the text is blue, but if you simply right click on the
applied paragraph style in the style list, you can then
change the character formatting to any color you want (the
same as you would with direct formatting, just within the
style itself). Once changed, all paragraphs having that
paragraph style will automatically change to the new color.
With WordPerfect, you'd have to go into each and every
paragraph or column frame and manually change each one to
the color you want. And, if you made a mistake in one of
them, you'd end up with inconsistent formatting. Of course
you could track it down with your reveal codes, but with
styles, you wouldn't have to.
It's not rocket science, but I'll agree that it is not
intuitive to the typewriter model followed by WordPerfect.
Let me give an example of the benefit of styles. Several
years ago, my 14 year old son challenged himself to type a
50,000 word novel in November, which is National Novel
Writers Month. He met his goal, and quickly dropped the
project.
As a proud papa, I wanted to put his document to paper. He
wrote the original in WordPerfect, and it was a formatting
mess, with stray tabs, carriage returns, and inconsistent
formatting across chapter and section headings. Using WP's
beloved reveal codes, I began the task of reformatting his
127 page novel. It didn't take long for me to realize it
would take days and days to wade through all of the
formatting codes inserted by WP.
Instead, I saved the document as a plain text file,
stripping all formatting. I then loaded it into LyX, which
is a GUI LaTeX editor. LaTeX is the ultimate in styles-based
document processing as there is no other way to do things. I
applied the Part and Chapter styles, (called "environments"
in LaTeX speak) to the part and chapter titles, and then
inserted a fully formatted, numbered, and typed table of
contents with a couple mouse clicks. I set NO page
formatting parameters such as page margins, page numbering,
etc., as those were handled entirely by the Book template
(called "document class"). I then compiled the book and had
a fully formatted novel, complete with Title page, Table of
Contents, properly formatted right and left hand pages with
fully formatted headers with page numbers, etc. The entire
process took about a half hour. I surprised even myself.
I could have done the same thing with OpenOffice's styles,
but they're not quite as fully automatic as LyX/LaTeX, so it
would have taken a bit longer, but not much.
Yes, styles can be difficult to learn, much the same as
learning a new cable TV remote control. But once learned,
you'll appreciate all you can do with them, and you won't go
back to the typewriter (or it's only begotten son,
WordPerfect), just like I won't go back to rabbit ears for
my TV.
Virgil
-----Original Message----- From: Tamblyne
Sent: Friday, June 21, 2013 5:29 PM
To: users@openoffice.apache.org
Subject: Re: Codes
Hi, Patricia --
Of course, you're going to be told -- and I can see that you
already
have -- that "you're not doing it right." Use
styles. Styles will,
apparently, take care everything, including promote world
peace, as well
as fix all that's wrong with your document.
Perhaps if we asked for "reveal styles" instead of "reveal
codes," we
could get some progress on this issue. The View >
Non-printing
characters doesn't help much unless what you're looking for
is carriage
returns/line-feeds, as far as I can tell. It certainly
doesn't tell me
what styles are being applied to any given portion of the
document. And
it doesn't show formatting codes, either.
As an "old" WP user (and aren't we all, at this point?), I
argued
passionately for this "enhancement" long ago. The fact
that we were
blown off then, and still are, is the reason I don't
volunteer my time
to this project anymore.
The response to "use styles" doesn't solve the problem --
that being
that you can't tell where an applied style begins or ends
when you have
a problem. Wait until you get a horizontal line under
all of your
paragraphs that you can't get rid of. That's even more
fun! :-D You
can spend time playing Document Detective -- or just CTRL-Z
out of it
and come up with some other way to format your document the
way YOU want
to.
As to your particular issue, this blue text is often
automatically
applied to email addresses and hyperlinks, and you can
change that under
"character styles."
As for reveal codes -- don't hold your breath. :-)
Tam
On 6/20/2013 6:54 PM, Patricia Hickin wrote:
> Is there any way to reveal codes in OO (the way you can
in WordPerfect)?
>
> I am having a problem with the following:
>
> I am preparing a list of books as follows:
>
> In a table of two columns, I insert an image of the
book cover in the first
> (a narrow) column. In the 2nd column I put info
about the book: title,
> author, publisher & date.
>
> I have obtained the info from www.worldcat.org,
compiled a list of the
> books, copied the list into Notepad to strip it of
formatting. Next I
> copied the list into an OO text document and formatted
it as follows:
>
> font Calibri color black
> title: 18 point bold italic
> author & publishing info (two separate
lines): 15 point regular.
>
> For some reason, OO is changing the color of the
publishing info to blue.
> I change it to black. but when I save
it the color switches to blue!!
>
> It is driving me crazy!!!
>
> Any ideas?? Thanks!!
>
> Pat
>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscr...@openoffice.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: users-h...@openoffice.apache.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscr...@openoffice.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: users-h...@openoffice.apache.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscr...@openoffice.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: users-h...@openoffice.apache.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscr...@openoffice.apache.org
For additional commands, e-mail: users-h...@openoffice.apache.org
