SandyU wrote: > James McKenzie wrote: >>> I use the Alt+Q combination to close the console because it likes to >>> keep Ctrl for other purposes. >>> >>> >> Ok. This is definitely a good reason to want to keep this key for other >> purposes. Another is if the key is mapped in the windowing system >> (Gnome or KDE) and is reused in the application. Can lead to >> unpredicable results. >> > No. Not a good reason. I quite agree, but that is only one of them. I would hate to assign something like Alt+E (which is supposed to be the Edit menu item) to something else. This has happened before (not to me but to someone else.) > > Why shouldn't a user decide to use available ALT combinations in one > application rather than another? I don't have to use Alt+Q for the > console but, even though I've done so, I could use it for something > else in OOo. True. I'm actually surprized that the Alt and Shift+Alt keys are not enabled by default. This is not 'standard' behaviour for any application. > > The console I'm talking about opens in a window like any application. > I'm not talking about the command line interface behind the gui. I'm > fairly certain you can't close that (them). >>> I've never used it because I avoid using Writer. If I had to do a lot >>> of wordprocessing, I'd get something else. >>> >> Why? I find that Writer is quite versitile, sometimes easier to use >> than Microsoft Word. For basic documents, Word is sufficient, but since >> I have to do complex documents which include tables of authorities, it >> is actually easier to use Writer. >> > Off topic really, but who can resist a question like that? > > On my older computer, a Writer document I used to consult often, while > migrating to Linux (and, therefore, OpenOffice), used to paralyse my > system. This is a known problem with longer writer documents. I'm wondering if this is not due to the fact that they are compressed, whereas .doc files are not. > > I could open and navigate through the pdf version without any > difficulty. I could also open and navigate through pdf documents many > times larger with only minor slowing of the system. Again, I don't think that .pdf files are compressed. This leads to only one conclusion, that the compression process within OpenOffice may need to be 'tuned' better. I know that I used to send files using maximum compression until one of them locked my system up. This lead to a series of reboots and going back and using normal compression. > > I later found that the default Writer template contains ~200 different > styles. That's plain silly because anyone wanting that many styles > would want to create their own. Actually, I do work with a document in my 'real job' that has that many and more styles. It is interesting as I think that we could get away with about half that number for most of the documents we work with.
> > I also tried unravelling the Writer API just out of interest and > that's a whole series of headaches on its own. This can be very furstrating and can lead to 'banging of one's head against a brick wall' or the loss of one's sanity. > > When you are used to better software, BG's "good enough" isn't. You got that straight. As I commented elsewhere, MS Word is great for working with 'ordinary' documents. Wait until you have to work on a Master's Thesis or a lengthy document that requires the use of Chaptering (one document as a master and then one per 'chapter'.) > > Oddly, I received your message a long while before my earlier one. > Now the layout of the thread is all messed up. I'm at the computer > today because Sunday seemed my only chance to configure a new OS. > That's giving me probs too. :-( > Good luck with the new Operating System. I've been there and done that. Installing three different operating systems (OS/2, Windows98 and Linux) was an adventure that I don't want to go back to. However, I may have to install Linux on a partition with Windows98SE so that I can test OpenOffice.org on this system. James McKenzie --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
