Daniel Lewis [mailto:[email protected]] said:
> 
> Gordon Burgess-Parker wrote:
> > This is, perhaps, one of the main areas where OO could 
> outdo MS Office.
> > I would assume that this function is fairly commonly required, when 
> > you have a document with a cover for example, and yet it is 
> > DIABOLICALLY difficult in MS Word and not much easier in OO.
> > Would it be beyond the bounds of possibility for a 
> developer to write 
> > some code so that you could insert the footer on page 2, 
> click in it, 
> > and choose "insert page number-start at no1", instead of having to 
> > muck about with page breaks and styles and all the rest of the 
> > difficult stuff?
> >
>       There is a reason why OOo and other programs have 
> templates: when 
> you use the same layout time after time, you use a template. 
> So, create 
> a template with these things in it. Then when you need it, use it.
>       If you do this, you will also want to add the Templates and 
> Documents icon to the Standard toolbar. This makes it easy to 
> access the 
> template.

Does one normally use multiple templates per document? 
One for each trick or procedure they need to incorporate?


I think that most people don't learn a strange 
or arcane trick by doing it once. If they are 
like me in this respect, they need to do it several 
times over a brief period, in order to cement the memory. 

By creating a template the first time you figure out 
a tricky or obscure feature/problem, you defeat the 
learning process. The next time you need to make 
a document for which that template would not be 
appropriate, you have to figure out the obscure 
feature/problem all over again.  And it appears in 
this list again...  and whoever schedules and 
prioritizes OOo development doesn't use this list 
as a way of knowing what's a recurring annoyance and 
would bear fixing. 

Instead, they look at bug reports, and list-members 
are urged to generate a bug report or to vote on 
one that seems like what they just sweated and cursed 
to figure out.  The trouble is that too many people 
who have taken time to sweat and curse and google 
and write to the list for help are falling behind 
in their work - so when they finally learn how to get 
past a problem, they spend their time trying to 
catch up... and not trying to figure out the OOo 
bug-reporting system.

So the next revision of OOo comes out, and something 
that troubled a bunch of people is still there, 
and another bunch of people trip over it. It's 
solvable, so it never becomes a bug - it remains a 
"feature" for each new generation of users to 'enjoy'.

 - K 


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