[plug] JD stresses at OOo

[Leon Brooks]

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 09:55, James Devenish wrote:
> In message <200402200930.39322.leon at brooks.fdns.net>
> on Fri, Feb 20, 2004 at 09:30:39AM +0800, Leon Brooks wrote:
>> On Wed, 18 Feb 2004 17:57, James Devenish wrote:
>>> Because I get too distressed using OpenOffice

>> ...which I use daily without stress. I like editing with OOo in
>> HTML, except that there's no autosave in this mode, because it
>> wraps all of the fetures I generally use (even footnotes, TOCs etc)
>> but is readable by *anyone*.

> I'm having an Onno moment -- I'm unable to glean any meaning from the
> above paragraph :-)

I use OOo daily without stress.

I like using OOo for editing HTML.

In HTML mode, OOo doesn't journal as you type, so it's easier to lose 
stuff to (say) a power failure than in wordprocessor mode.

The HTML mode of OOo deals with all of the features I use, including 
footnotes and tables-of-contents, but HTML can be read by anyone both 
because OOo writes pretty reasonable HTML and because everyone has a 
web browser.

>> So what stresses you about it?

> I'd have to start using it again in order to be able to list things
> accurately. But here are the things I encountered during ten minutes'
> use for your edification:

>  - The 'Open' dialogue takes me somewhere other than the current
> working directory or my home directory (this might be acceptable, but
> it's not like any other apps I use).

It takes me to the directory I last edited in, which is useful. Click 
once on the little icon full of tools (predominantly a hammer) to get 
your home directory.

> Also, it doesn't let me navigate to directories via text entry.

IW4M, see http://cyberknights.com.au/jd/oo-open-before.png and 
oo-open-after.png after I type /tmp - not only that, it autocompletes 
based on what is there.

>  - To 'import' or 'place' data into a spreadsheet, the thing that
> stood out in the menus was an 'External Data...' option in the
> 'Insert' menu. Fair enough. However, there was no tab-sep text
> option. I did find 'Text CSV', though (but I thought that meant
> 'comma-separated values'). After choosing CSV, I get some options
> (including using different separators -- yay). However, after getting
> all the delimiters set up and what not, the 'OK' button is dimmed.

IW4M - oo-open-csv.png - maybe you're using an inferior distro which 
doesn't configure and patch things so well? (-:

> Now that I've finally opened some documents, I see:
>
>  - the word-processor toolabar Font menu would be laughable if it
>    weren't so sad -- it only shows six fonts at a time.

True, but it does display thos six fonts nicely and in order, which 
makes selecting amongst them (even amongst hundreds of them) not too 
much of a chore.

>  - I'm using v1.1.0 and it tends to crash on pre-existing documents
> that I open.

I've not had it crash for any reason for months. I use it to recover 
other people's broken documents by the simple process of Open...SaveAs. 
Another IW4M, I guess.

> Charting. AAARGH! Absolutely drives me crazy in OOo. Won't list the
> usability problems I'm having.

I'll cede you this one. I don't use charting often, but do find it 
confusing. Some of my confusion was bad design, some of it was bringing 
expectations from another spreadsheet named after a small car. As I 
understand it, OOo plans to somewhat revolutionise charting, if not in 
the next release then soon.

> Printing: doesn't follow the motifs I expect.

Yeah, well, it uses a different toolkit. Put down the chair, James, it 
was a joke, OK? (-:

> For example, there 
> is a "Printer Settings..." option /below/ the "Print" option. My
> expectation is that there would be a "Page Setup..." option /above/
> the "Print" option.

Eh? You're not going to complain that page formatting is grouped under 
"Format" along with paragraph and character and so on instead of under 
"File" with the printer stuff? (-:

> Could probably find info in the help, but there was no help button
> immediately available.

F1 is your friend.

Cheers; Leon