[libreoffice-design] A new User paradigm for LibreOffice.

I've recently written a Perl script that converts many ODT files to PDF  
using the commandline. This resulted from an Inet search that failed to  
find anything useful for someone like myself - a Linux User for a dozen  
years who doesn't use M$ in any form, and is not interested in commercial  
offerings. The results can be found at:

http://52midnight.com/home/ooo.html

This got me thinking about the state of things in the Open Document world,  
since my Inet diversions suggest that there are many who have tried  
unsuccessfully to find a similar solution. My present solution is specific  
to Writer, but could be extended to other formats were there sufficient  
interest. It effectively uses OO/LO as a backend for my script, and is  
very inefficient given the need to load the entire contents of a major app  
just to do a simple format conversion, and for EACH file in the process.  
Its commanding virtue is that IT WORKS (at least for OOo 3.0.0) unlike  
other scripts and utilities I've tried.

I can well understand that LO developers may not be interested in  
supporting its use as a backend for scripts, especially now that they've  
been disenfranchized of OOo and are having to rebuild their presence as  
Libre Office. However, this situation surely serves to encourage the  
development of helper utilities for LO that OOo lacks.

I believe that the including of helper utilities in a standard LO  
distribution could help to differentiate it from OOo. As an example, if LO  
is invoked without any parameters, it takes considerable time to load, and  
then presents a choice of its major applications. Instead of this, it  
could  quickly load a selection box that offered a range of simple tasks  
(view a  file, print a file, convert formats, email a file etc.) as well  
as switching to the major apps. I use Linux with a KDE 3.5 Desktop in  
which the major apps are presented individually in the main menu. What I'd  
like to see in addition is a selection page as described that loads  
quickly, and presents a series of simple tasks that can be accomplished  
without loading the whole shebang.

All Users of OOo and (sign of the cross) Word are automatically  
accustomed, not only to the loading delay of these monster apps, but to  
their (unavoidably) complex menus. If LO were to present a quick, simple  
interface of the type I've described as the default invocation, it could  
initiate a paradigm shift for Users, especially now that mobile interfaces  
are becoming so popular.

52midnight

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