Re: [libreoffice-users] Complex page styles for book layout

On Fri, 2011-05-13 at 10:15 +0100, Tom Davies wrote:
> ... At work they are trying to use Word in a very inelegant way to 
> produce a newsletter.  With only 16pages and only a small handful of pictures 
> the machines grinds to a very wobbly almost halt.  They have been talking about 
> buying a DTP to do the work (even tho there are better OpenSource 
> alternatives).  So, if the problem is likely to be their inelegance and if LO 
> might be able to do the job better than they manage in Word then it would be 
> great for me to explore the option.

The requirements for a newsletter are usually different from those for a
book, as a newsletter typically has more complex layout. Depending on
what they want to do, they might in fact be better off with MS
Publisher. LibO can almost surely do what they want, and is not greatly
different from Word (which can also do what they want), but whether the
people involved can learn how to use LO any better than they use Word is
another matter.

For newsletters, usually what you want is a combination of sections
(with columns) and frames in Writer. They are not difficult once you
grasp the basic concepts, but a lot of people just never get to that
stage. There is a lot of relevant info in Chapter 4, Formatting Pages,
of the Writer Guide, but turning that info into action isn't easy at
first. A tutorial on doing newsletters is on my "to do if I had the
time" list.

And for some newsletters, Impress or Draw may work better, or so I'm
told. I've never used them for that purpose, so I can't say from
experience.

--Jean


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