The MozillaZine forum has provided some information of use regarding
the Firefox extension idea. One response to my post claims it is
already a feature of OOo 2.0. When searching the features list, I did
find it mentioned, and it was colored to indicate the feature was
complete. But in my installations of 2.0 beta, I haven't figured out
how to use it yet. (Go to Tools > Options > Internet > Mozilla Plug In,
and check the box reading Enable. But what does it do exactly? And how
can it be installed if OOo is not on the system?)
The thread I started can be viewed here:
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=1372179#1372179
Thanks again,
Ben
On Apr 7, 2005, at 6:16 AM, Benjamin Horst wrote:
Daniel,
Thanks for helping to refine and clarify the idea. I think you are
onto something when suggesting two options, or two steps in the
process of developing the plugin. Must be the logical mathematician in
you!
As for motivating people, the only thing I can think of is presenting
the idea to a broad array of forums, and hoping it catches people's
attention somehow. As such, I'm writing a quick article which I'll
attempt to publish online and get linked from various sources. First
I'll submit it to OSViews.com, then a few others (maybe try for a
Slashdot link too). I'll post the text to this list first, and ask for
comments and suggestions.
Ben
On Apr 3, 2005, at 6:06 PM, Daniel Carrera wrote:
Benjamin Horst wrote:
[Firefox] reads documents in standard formats and displays them on
the
screen, and some of these formats (xhtml) are probably similar in
many
ways to the XML-based OpenDocument formats. The fit is perfect. The
work to create an OOo file viewer by this route is probably less than
any other current option!
Using FireFox for this is a fantastic idea. I can't overstate how
great
the idea is. In addition to what you just said, I would add that
OpenDocument is the natural evolution beyond XHTML. OpenDocument can
do
anything HTML can, as well as much that XHTML cannot.
Now, there are roughtly two ways to do this:
1) Use an XSLT transformation to turn OpenDocument files to XHTML and
have
FF render the XHTML.
2) Write a complete plugin from scratch.
Option (1) is much easier, provided that:
* Firefox knows what to do with an XSLT.
* It's ok to lose formatting.
Writing an XSLT isn't the biggest problem. OOo already comes with one
for
XHTML export. So it comes down to whether FF know what to do with it.
The
second item might be more problematic. HTML simply cannot represent
OpenDocument files with accuracy.
Option (2) has the advantage of better formatting accuracy. It would
look
similar to the PDF plugin.
One idea would be to do this as a "quick and dirty" plugin, and plan
on a
better plugin later on.
Maybe as marketers, we can ignite the motivation in fine programmers
already out there looking for a great new project. What does
everybody
think?
This made me smile. I don't know how to motivate someone to do this.
It
sounds difficult.
Cheers,
--
Daniel Carrera
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Free OpenOffice downloads at www.openoffice.org
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