What might it take to persuade the WordPerfect people to offer a Mac version?
On Jun 22, 2013, at 8:24 AM, Eric Fenster wrote: > Whoopee! The absence of reveal codes is up for discussion again, and we > continue to have defenders of the absence of this great WP tool. > > It allows SEEING where things happen and CHANGING them by deleting the codes. > > It is an ADDITIONAL convenience, not a requirement. Nobody is forced to > display the reveal codes window. > > --- On Fri, 6/21/13, Virgil Arrington <cuyfa...@hotmail.com> wrote: > >> From: Virgil Arrington <cuyfa...@hotmail.com> >> Subject: Re: Codes >> To: users@openoffice.apache.org >> Date: Friday, June 21, 2013, 2:24 PM >> There *is* a "reveal styles." It's in >> the Formatting Toolbar, where the style for the paragraph >> containing the cursor is clearly displayed. Press F11 and >> you'll get a list of all the available paragraph styles. >> Right click on any one of them, click "Modify" and you can >> see all of the formatting characteristics applying to that >> style. Make any formatting changes you want and they will >> apply to any paragraph having that particular style. >> >> As for other formatting parameters, you don't need a code to >> tell you that a word is in Boldface as it will appear in >> Boldface on the screen. Blue text will appear blue, and you >> won't need a code to tell that. Now, you may not know *why* >> the text is blue, but if you simply right click on the >> applied paragraph style in the style list, you can then >> change the character formatting to any color you want (the >> same as you would with direct formatting, just within the >> style itself). Once changed, all paragraphs having that >> paragraph style will automatically change to the new color. >> With WordPerfect, you'd have to go into each and every >> paragraph or column frame and manually change each one to >> the color you want. And, if you made a mistake in one of >> them, you'd end up with inconsistent formatting. Of course >> you could track it down with your reveal codes, but with >> styles, you wouldn't have to. >> >> It's not rocket science, but I'll agree that it is not >> intuitive to the typewriter model followed by WordPerfect. >> >> Let me give an example of the benefit of styles. Several >> years ago, my 14 year old son challenged himself to type a >> 50,000 word novel in November, which is National Novel >> Writers Month. He met his goal, and quickly dropped the >> project. >> >> As a proud papa, I wanted to put his document to paper. He >> wrote the original in WordPerfect, and it was a formatting >> mess, with stray tabs, carriage returns, and inconsistent >> formatting across chapter and section headings. Using WP's >> beloved reveal codes, I began the task of reformatting his >> 127 page novel. It didn't take long for me to realize it >> would take days and days to wade through all of the >> formatting codes inserted by WP. >> >> Instead, I saved the document as a plain text file, >> stripping all formatting. I then loaded it into LyX, which >> is a GUI LaTeX editor. LaTeX is the ultimate in styles-based >> document processing as there is no other way to do things. I >> applied the Part and Chapter styles, (called "environments" >> in LaTeX speak) to the part and chapter titles, and then >> inserted a fully formatted, numbered, and typed table of >> contents with a couple mouse clicks. I set NO page >> formatting parameters such as page margins, page numbering, >> etc., as those were handled entirely by the Book template >> (called "document class"). I then compiled the book and had >> a fully formatted novel, complete with Title page, Table of >> Contents, properly formatted right and left hand pages with >> fully formatted headers with page numbers, etc. The entire >> process took about a half hour. I surprised even myself. >> >> I could have done the same thing with OpenOffice's styles, >> but they're not quite as fully automatic as LyX/LaTeX, so it >> would have taken a bit longer, but not much. >> >> Yes, styles can be difficult to learn, much the same as >> learning a new cable TV remote control. But once learned, >> you'll appreciate all you can do with them, and you won't go >> back to the typewriter (or it's only begotten son, >> WordPerfect), just like I won't go back to rabbit ears for >> my TV. >> >> Virgil >> >> >> >> >> >> -----Original Message----- From: Tamblyne >> Sent: Friday, June 21, 2013 5:29 PM >> To: users@openoffice.apache.org >> Subject: Re: Codes >> >> Hi, Patricia -- >> >> Of course, you're going to be told -- and I can see that you >> already >> have -- that "you're not doing it right." Use >> styles. Styles will, >> apparently, take care everything, including promote world >> peace, as well >> as fix all that's wrong with your document. >> >> Perhaps if we asked for "reveal styles" instead of "reveal >> codes," we >> could get some progress on this issue. The View > >> Non-printing >> characters doesn't help much unless what you're looking for >> is carriage >> returns/line-feeds, as far as I can tell. It certainly >> doesn't tell me >> what styles are being applied to any given portion of the >> document. And >> it doesn't show formatting codes, either. >> >> As an "old" WP user (and aren't we all, at this point?), I >> argued >> passionately for this "enhancement" long ago. The fact >> that we were >> blown off then, and still are, is the reason I don't >> volunteer my time >> to this project anymore. >> >> The response to "use styles" doesn't solve the problem -- >> that being >> that you can't tell where an applied style begins or ends >> when you have >> a problem. Wait until you get a horizontal line under >> all of your >> paragraphs that you can't get rid of. That's even more >> fun! :-D You >> can spend time playing Document Detective -- or just CTRL-Z >> out of it >> and come up with some other way to format your document the >> way YOU want >> to. >> >> As to your particular issue, this blue text is often >> automatically >> applied to email addresses and hyperlinks, and you can >> change that under >> "character styles." >> >> As for reveal codes -- don't hold your breath. :-) >> >> Tam >> >> On 6/20/2013 6:54 PM, Patricia Hickin wrote: >>> Is there any way to reveal codes in OO (the way you can >> in WordPerfect)? >>> >>> I am having a problem with the following: >>> >>> I am preparing a list of books as follows: >>> >>> In a table of two columns, I insert an image of the >> book cover in the first >>> (a narrow) column. In the 2nd column I put info >> about the book: title, >>> author, publisher & date. >>> >>> I have obtained the info from www.worldcat.org, >> compiled a list of the >>> books, copied the list into Notepad to strip it of >> formatting. Next I >>> copied the list into an OO text document and formatted >> it as follows: >>> >>> font Calibri color black >>> title: 18 point bold italic >>> author & publishing info (two separate >> lines): 15 point regular. >>> >>> For some reason, OO is changing the color of the >> publishing info to blue. >>> I change it to black. but when I save >> it the color switches to blue!! >>> >>> It is driving me crazy!!! >>> >>> Any ideas?? Thanks!! >>> >>> Pat >>> >> >> --------------------------------------------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscr...@openoffice.apache.org >> For additional commands, e-mail: users-h...@openoffice.apache.org >> >> >> --------------------------------------------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscr...@openoffice.apache.org >> For additional commands, e-mail: users-h...@openoffice.apache.org >> >> > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscr...@openoffice.apache.org > For additional commands, e-mail: users-h...@openoffice.apache.org > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: users-unsubscr...@openoffice.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: users-h...@openoffice.apache.org
