On 2007-11-20 11:36:29, MasonCide wrote:
Hi,
I've nearly completed a long book with OpenOffice 2.0 Writer in
Debian
Linux
Etch. I think the Writer is great. I didn't have any problems with
it.
While I haven't done any books, I _have_ written technical reports
running to over 2400 pages (500+ tables, 250+ graphs/figures/plots,
TOC, indexes) divided up in chapters (sections) as if it were a book.
I have to second the writer's statement: I, too, had no real problems
(that I didn't cause myself by not reading the help docs). While I use
SO primarily on Linux (fedora 3-4-5-6-7) and Solaris (2.5 through 2.9),
I seldom use the Windows version, but I suspect that the info below
will still apply.
(SNIP)
I would have liked a keystroke macro recorder, where I could click
on 'Record', enter a key combination to activate the macro, click
'Record'
again, and touch keys to form a key sequence macro, click stop, and
when I
touched the key combo to activate the macro, the key sequence, of
which the
macro consisted, would be executed.
I just tried it and this works for me. Try Tools>Customize, "BASIC",
"Record Macro". It worked for me for a couple of very simple macro's
anyway. Applying the macro still seems to require menu/mouse access
(although someone may correct me on that one - I only use a few macros
and I am not familiar with all of the ins and outs here).
(SNIP)
Also, There is no way to add an index entry using the keyboard.
Again, you can go to Tools>Customize and then select the "Keyboard"
tab. Then pick out whatever shortcut keys you like and assign
(Category) "Insert", (Function) "Indexes and Tables" to it. Then the
window pops up and you can create the Index you want. If what you mean
here is to edit the already-created index to add an entry to it, then
on the Tools>Customize "Keyboard" tab, Catgory "Edit", Function "Edit
Index". You'll have to position the cursor where you want to add it
and (I suspect) make sure that the index is modifiable when you create
it. (I always do this last part so modifying an index or table has not
been high on my "problems" list.
(SNIP)
I couldn't figure out the keyboard shortcuts for formatting.
Try the help button - go to "shortcut keys" in the index. There are
fairly complete shortcut listings, and of course, you can always add
your own personal favorites. (piece of cake)
There is no feature to automatically adjust the document so there are
no
widows and orphans.
Go to Format>Paragraph and then click on the "Text Flow" tab - these
settings are there along with other useful controls. Better yet,
create your own format in the stylist (or change one of the ones there)
and you won't have to do this every time - it will simply become
"automatic".
(SNIP)
The bullets and numbering feature is not intuitive. It took me a
long
time to
learn it. When the user hits 'enter' twice in bullet or numbering
mode,
without typing anything after the first enter, bulleting or numbering
should
delete the last two bullets or numbers, and turn bullets or numbering
off.
While I'm fairly sure that "intuitive" is rather subjective, I have to
say that this feature is at least slightly "different" on _all_ of the
different WP programs I've had to use over the years (troff/nroff,
Applix, OLD StarOffice [pre OOo], SO6-7-8/OOo, FrameMaker, WP, ABIword,
IslandWrite/Draw/Paint, MsWord, Kword, and a couple of others that I'd
really like to forget). IMHO (or not so...) "intuitive" means that it
does what I expect it to do. But if by "intuitive" you mean like MS
Word, then I agree - BUT I'm glad that it is NOT like MS Word, and I
prefer it the way it is. So to me it _is_ "intuitive" - and _your_
mileage _will_ vary.
(SNIP)
When a bullet or number has a long text portion attached, if some
text
is
added or deleted from the entry, the formatting should stay the same,
not get
all messed up with tabs in the middle of lines.
I have tried this for about an hour, adding/deleting from as little as
a single character all the way up to and addition/deletion of about 10K
characters (6 pages). But I have not been able to duplicate this one.
Could you perhaps put an example up somewhere to download?
--
william w. austin waus...@speakeasy.net
"life is just another phase i'm going through. this time, anyway ..."
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