To comment on the following update, log in, then open the issue: http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=86155 Issue #|86155 Summary|Edit Record Changes prevents professional use Component|Word processor Version|OOo 2.3 Platform|All URL| OS/Version|All Status|UNCONFIRMED Status whiteboard| Keywords| Resolution| Issue type|FEATURE Priority|P3 Subcomponent|editing Assigned to|mru Reported by|vtdiy
------- Additional comments from [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sat Feb 16 20:08:10 +0000 2008 ------- Thanks very much for your Write application (used in Ubuntu). It nearly satisfies our need for a professional word processor. Unfortunately, one aspect, Edit/Changes/Record is not functionally adequate to allow us to convert over from Microsoft Word (even Word '97) for use in copy-editing documents for consumer publications. In MSWord, changes can be accepted or rejected by clicking on the change in the text and making the choice in a "Track Changes Toolbar". The potential change is seen in the actual document text while the decision is being made to accept it. On the other hand, in OpenOffice Writer 2.3, changes can only be accepted or rejected from a simple consecutive list of all edits. This list does not show the actual edit copy itself. Only the date of the edit entry is shown. In a document with hundreds of changes (like a book or even a detailed magazine article) it is impossible to find a proposed change by looking at the list -- one would have to know the dates of each proposed change. While it is true that if you select (highlight) one anonymous list entry, the working document window scrolls to the location of the selected change, this still means that a user must click blindly in a long list to gradually narrow down the choices and locate a section of interest. In normal editing, the document is the focus, not a list of changes, and an editor wants to proceed by reading the document and making yes/no choices as the reading progresses. MSWord allows this simple functionality. As a change is read, clicking on it allows acceptance or rejection of that change. This is a normal intuitive functionality and focus does not have to be shifted to a list. There is no need to hunt through a numerical dated list to relate it to the document. Because not every change in a document is acted upon, and because some changes are physically located far from preceding ones, it is not possible to keep the list synchronized (mentally) with the editor's position in a reading. An editor may also jump around a document editing a few key sections out of order. A sequential list of changes naturally cannot be synchronized with this kind of necessary activity. In a recent (and to us disheartening) change in the commercial publishing world, more and more of the print publications we deal with are REQUIRING that freelancers use Microsoft Word for submitting and editing manuscripts. They no longer accept .doc documents prepared or edited in another program. Once that becomes policy at an organization it is extremely difficult to reverse it. We believe this may be partly due to unfamiliar and problematic "track changes" (Edit/Changes/Record) experiences at the publication with Open Office Write. All commercial editing is essentially collaborative, and these particular tools need to be intuitive and in fact equivalent to the MSWord methodology, or Open Office will be effectively banned in this industry. We hope that the otherwise excellent OpenOffice Writer's change tracking interface can be improved in this one area. It would make OpenOffice suitable for group editing in a professional publications setting, and allow us and many others to make the move away from Microsoft products. Thanks very much for your consideration. Steve freelance technical writer Cheryl freelance food writer and copy editor --------------------------------------------------------------------- Please do not reply to this automatically generated notification from Issue Tracker. Please log onto the website and enter your comments. http://qa.openoffice.org/issue_handling/project_issues.html#notification --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
