The problem with F/OSS office suites is that their audience tends to be uncritical, so much as in the fairy tale "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" (but in inverse), professionals have stopped listening.
I remember at least three incidents where I was instructed to evaluate Open Office, Libre Office or other F/OSS word processing or layout packages. In each instance, the F/OSS products fell short in fundamental ways, and were a total disaster for larger documents. Their main strength was that it was often easier to ex
1) I want better support for indexes. And in specific I want to be able to maintain several DIFFERENT indexes in the same document. (Think Alphabetic index, index of dates, index of places, etc.)
2) I want bettersupport for tables of contents. And in specific I want to be able to have several different tables of contents in the same document. (Think Table of contents, list of figures, etc.)
The difference between tables of contents and indexes is that indexes are sorted by name. Tables of contents by order within the document.
N.B.: This *MAY* be possible in Open/Libre Office. If so I haven't understood how. So it could just be a problem with interface. (I seem to remember creating a document with several indexes, but I don't currently know how to do it.)
3) I'd *like* to be able to specify things like index entries via markup. A Macintosh word processor a couple of decades ago allowed.i. when formatted as "hidden text" to initiate an index entry. but HTML or XML style markup would be perfectly acceptable, but note that this isn't to handle things like bold (though that *could* be done the same way) but rather tags for the word processor to pickup and use, like "start of header 1" or "end of header text". Naturally this would need to be "hideable" so that like other "invisible characters" you didn't see it if you didn't want to. And it wouldn't EVER need to be printable.
I realize that request 3 is a step away from WYSIWYG, which is one reason it should have optional visibility. But the ability to hand edit such things is often much more convenient than manipulating them via GUI. (And also it often isn't. So don't cripple one function to support the other.)
Another thing I'd like to do is print on quarter sheets, with the text rotated properly to allow the pages to be french folded. Currently this requires a page layout program, and must be manually done. (Or perhaps I don't really understand the page layout program. This is only an occasional requirement after all. I need to do this maybe 2-3 times/year. But then I often need to do it quickly.)
Let me tell you that, as a developer, you are exactly the type of person I want writing feature requests and bug reports. Those are all necessary or neat features, and your descriptions are good. It's a shame LO doesn't have a feature request section or a task list of requested features being implemented (just check https://www.libreoffice.org/get-involved/ [libreoffice.org] , I didn't see it).
I mean honestly the only rebuttial I could provide would be for 2 + 3, which would be to use documentation/guide generation tools - b
You want LaTeX. Take a look at LyX if you haven't already -- it'll make getting started really easy.
For the quarter-fold cards, check out the rotating package.
Just FYI, I found an easy way to create quarter fold cards in LibreOffice. Create two new paragraph styles (e.g. French Fold Inside, French Fold Outside). Modify the styles and, under the 'position' tab, set the rotation to 90 degrees for the outside, and 270 degrees for the inside. You can make a card now by simply setting the page orientation to
Well, I looked at LaTex via KLyx awhile ago, and it wasn't what I want. Sorry. Mainly I want things to work the way they work in Open/Libre Office. I just want a few extensions.
I do agree that LaTex can do what I want. So can Scribus, and I don't want to use that, either. And Scribus wouldn't require and extensive learning curve.
OTOH, I may be being unfair. It was quite awhile ago that I looked at KLyx (which I'm assuming is the same program as LyX). So I'll give it another look, just to be certain.
Little known fact about Middle Earth: The Hobbits had a very sophisticated
computer network! It was a Tolkien Ring...
The problem with FOSS office suites (Score:5, Interesting)
The problem with F/OSS office suites is that their audience tends to be uncritical, so much as in the fairy tale "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" (but in inverse), professionals have stopped listening.
I remember at least three incidents where I was instructed to evaluate Open Office, Libre Office or other F/OSS word processing or layout packages. In each instance, the F/OSS products fell short in fundamental ways, and were a total disaster for larger documents. Their main strength was that it was often easier to ex
Re: (Score:0)
Speaking of crying wolf,
can you list any of the major issues that made OO or LO a no-go? (pun not intended)
(Mod Posting as AC)
Re: (Score:2)
This. I can't name a single feature that I need for business use that is not included in LO. I really wonder why parent is rated 5 Interesting.
Re:The problem with FOSS office suites (Score:2)
OK.
1) I want better support for indexes. And in specific I want to be able to maintain several DIFFERENT indexes in the same document. (Think Alphabetic index, index of dates, index of places, etc.)
2) I want bettersupport for tables of contents. And in specific I want to be able to have several different tables of contents in the same document. (Think Table of contents, list of figures, etc.)
The difference between tables of contents and indexes is that indexes are sorted by name. Tables of contents by order within the document.
N.B.: This *MAY* be possible in Open/Libre Office. If so I haven't understood how. So it could just be a problem with interface. (I seem to remember creating a document with several indexes, but I don't currently know how to do it.)
3) I'd *like* to be able to specify things like index entries via markup. A Macintosh word processor a couple of decades ago allowed .i. when formatted as "hidden text" to initiate an index entry. but HTML or XML style markup would be perfectly acceptable, but note that this isn't to handle things like bold (though that *could* be done the same way) but rather tags for the word processor to pickup and use, like "start of header 1" or "end of header text". Naturally this would need to be "hideable" so that like other "invisible characters" you didn't see it if you didn't want to. And it wouldn't EVER need to be printable.
I realize that request 3 is a step away from WYSIWYG, which is one reason it should have optional visibility. But the ability to hand edit such things is often much more convenient than manipulating them via GUI. (And also it often isn't. So don't cripple one function to support the other.)
Another thing I'd like to do is print on quarter sheets, with the text rotated properly to allow the pages to be french folded. Currently this requires a page layout program, and must be manually done. (Or perhaps I don't really understand the page layout program. This is only an occasional requirement after all. I need to do this maybe 2-3 times/year. But then I often need to do it quickly.)
Re: (Score:2)
Let me tell you that, as a developer, you are exactly the type of person I want writing feature requests and bug reports. Those are all necessary or neat features, and your descriptions are good. It's a shame LO doesn't have a feature request section or a task list of requested features being implemented (just check https://www.libreoffice.org/get-involved/ [libreoffice.org] , I didn't see it).
I mean honestly the only rebuttial I could provide would be for 2 + 3, which would be to use documentation/guide generation tools - b
Re: (Score:2)
You want LaTeX. Take a look at LyX if you haven't already -- it'll make getting started really easy.
For the quarter-fold cards, check out the rotating package.
Just FYI, I found an easy way to create quarter fold cards in LibreOffice. Create two new paragraph styles (e.g. French Fold Inside, French Fold Outside). Modify the styles and, under the 'position' tab, set the rotation to 90 degrees for the outside, and 270 degrees for the inside. You can make a card now by simply setting the page orientation to
Re: (Score:2)
Well, I looked at LaTex via KLyx awhile ago, and it wasn't what I want. Sorry. Mainly I want things to work the way they work in Open/Libre Office. I just want a few extensions.
I do agree that LaTex can do what I want. So can Scribus, and I don't want to use that, either. And Scribus wouldn't require and extensive learning curve.
OTOH, I may be being unfair. It was quite awhile ago that I looked at KLyx (which I'm assuming is the same program as LyX). So I'll give it another look, just to be certain.