Stephanee wrote: > 1. If you switched to OOo from MSWord, please note why you chose to switch.
a) MSOffice (any version) on any English localization of windows will usually produce an instant Blue Screen of Death, if three or more writing systems are used, that have different writing directions in the same cell space. b) I got tired of fighting with MSOffice, to get it to do things I could easily do in Wordstar. > 2. Do you feel that the lack of a grammar check function has an impact on > the quality of your work? a i) I've got a grammar checker for English, and _some_ of the other languages I write in. a ii) I can [and am] creating rule sets for grammar checking in languages that don't have existing rule sets. b) Grammar checkers are basically irrelevant to what I use OOo for. [They barely catch the gross mistakes. OTOH, I can add to the rule sets, to improve their accuracy.] c) Chicago Manual of Style (12th Edition) is more reliable than grammar checkers, for determining what editors expect layout to be. > 3.do they accept the OOo format, or do you convert your work Convert. :( > 4. Do you feel that basic formatting functions--such as adding page numbers, > running heads, or an automated table of contents--are easy to use? Generally speaking, they are easy to use. > 5. Have you tried more extensive formatting with OOo, Yes. > If so, was this process difficult or intuitive? Time consuming. [Anybody have any tips of how to speed up inserting graphics into a table that has 64 rows, and 256 columns?] >How do you think this compares with similar functions in MSWord? I switched to OOo because instead of taking four or more hours per row (depending upon Word crashes and consequent data loss ) to an hour per row, for creating that graphics intensive table. > 6. Have you tried accepting and rejecting recorded changes from an editor? Yes >If so, did you feel that this function was easy to use? Yes I don't use it because I use colour to differentiate various styles, and it doesn't show the colour until changes have been accepted, or rejected. > 7. Have you been able to customize the layout of the toolbar to your > satisfaction? Yes. > 8. What functions would you like to see integrated into the OOo word > processor that would benefit the writing and/or manuscript formatting process? Automatic concordance creation. > 9. Do you run OOo on Linux, Windows, or Other? Currently windows. I expect to switch back to Linux by summer. > 10. Comments: > ----Summary of previous thread > integrative ink wrote: >on an article comparing Microsoft Word and OOo focused for use in the writing community. Styles, styles, and still more styles. OOo Styles are much more powerful, and make it much easier to do things, than MSOffice, or WordPerfect styles. [Forget "Reveal Codes" as a WP advantage. There is an OOo macro that does the "Reveal Codes" thing for both Write, and Calc. (That the author of the Calc Reveal Codes macro thinks nobody is interested in it, is beside the point.)] > >> How about commenting on the grammar checker? Would you say that a good > >> editor and a good understanding of English If the choice is between a spell checker and grammar checker or the entire editorial staff at IDG Books, I'll take the spell checker and grammar checker eight days a week. OTOH, if the choice is between the computer tools, and an editor that is good, I'll take the good editor any day of the week. > > I will most likely address the grammar check issue in my article, In case you've missed them. _Language Tool_l is a python based grammar checker. More information is obtainable from http://tkltrans.sourceforge.net/ and also from http://www.danielnaber.de/. English, German, Hungarian. _An Gramad�ir_ is a Perl based grammar checker. http://borel.slu.edu/gramadoir/index.html. Irish CoGrOO is being rewritten in Python. More information can be obtained from http://www.pcs.usp.br/cgi-bin/jkinoshi/cogroo/experimente.cgi Portuguese. This one is not currently available. Cymraeg is a Grammar Checker for Welsh. This is a commercial product. A demo of it can be obtained from http://www.bangor.ac.uk/ar/cb/cymraeg/demo_meddalwedd.php Grammar checkers for other languages are being worked on, albeit slowly. [Probably not in languages that your readers use, though.] >OpenOffice.org seems to be very good with exporting to PDF, OOO only offers native export in color, not B&W. PDF Creator, an add on tools, allows for export in B&W. xan jonathon -- Monolingualism is a curable disease. Carlos Fuentes --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
