Re: [libreoffice-users] Re: Paragraph styles

Hi :)
+1
*  Text editor = plain text with no formatting

*  Word-processors allow you to add little bits of formatting as and when you want.  Results look a 
little different on each different machine but it's easy for people to edit and collaborate.  It's 
more about the process of writing than about the final result


*  Desktop publishing is all about the final result.  Consistent, well laid out.  The same on every 
machine and every printer.  



LibreOffice seems to straddle both word-processing and, to some extent, desktop publishing.  It can 
be used just as a word-processor, like Word, but then you miss the opportunity of getting faster 
and better results.  The important thing, imo, is that it's your choice.  Many of us start using it 
just as a word-processor and then take advantage of the extra bits once we have worked out the 
style we want to aim for with the document.  Sometimes the document is already finished before 
we've even thought about layout and it looks fine.  You don't need to have any clue about how the 
final document will look when you start.  You can just jump in and figure it out as you go along.  


LaTex, Inkscape(?), Scribus and others are almost purely about Desktop Publishing.  You kinda have 
to know what you are aiming for before you start.  You probably can "rough it" a bit but it's going 
to be awkward.  

Just my thoughts from what people have written in this thread and from my own limited experiences.

Regards from 

Tom :)  






> ________________________________
> From: Doug <dmcgarrett@optonline.net>
> To: Virgil Arrington <cuyfalls@hotmail.com>; users@global.libreoffice.org 
> Sent: Sunday, 5 May 2013, 19:20
> Subject: Re: [libreoffice-users] Re: Paragraph styles
>
>
> On 05/05/2013 01:19 PM, Virgil Arrington wrote:
> > Doug wrote,
> >
> > > I may be wrong, but it would seem to me that all this fuss about 
> > > styles is made by people who are trying to do desktop publishing.
> > > That's fine, altho there are probably better programs to do that, 
> > > even available to Linux users. I'm not ashamed to say that I use
> > > word processors as word processors, not as desktop publishers. I am 
> > > very happy to have this glorified typewriter--one which
> > > can import whole paragraphs, move them, or existing ones around, 
> > > correct spelling errors without retyping, so some editing--all the
> > > things I might have done on my typewriter, except now so much faster 
> > > and easier.  Let the publisher of my document format it with
> > > his desktop publishing app.  He doesn't need a word processor, he 
> > > needs its big brother--but I don't!
> >
> > Actually, Doug, it sounds like you're using word processors as "text 
> > editors," simple programs that allow you to enter and edit text 
> > without worrying about final output. Most people using word processors 
> > are preparing documents to be printed, and if you're going to print a 
> > text file, you're going to have to format it.
> >
> > Styles provide a very effective way to quickly and consistently format 
> > a document. I agree, if you don't care about formatting, don't worry 
> > about styles. But, if you do care about formatting, and you want to do 
> > it efficiently, consistently, and quickly, then styles let you do that.
> >
> > Let's say you want to build a house. You can do it with a hand saw and 
> > a hammer if you want, but my guess is that a professional builder 
> > would want to take advantage of the most advanced power tools 
> > available even if s/he might need to invest some time to learn how to 
> > use them.
> >
> > Virgil
> I write letters--where I have a heading saved as a file that I can 
> import--and I write occasionally for publication, in which case I write 
> double-spaced,
> extra space for paragraph, and no indent. I don't need any kind of 
> "style" to do that--I can set the double space once per article--that is 
> no more
> trouble than finding and turning on a preset style, which I could only 
> do if I knew how to create it in the first place. And I edit material 
> sent for a
> newsletter of some 1000 circulation, for which the publisher uses 
> Pagemaker on a Mac to format it. I don't know, but I think  any kind of 
> style
> setting would go bonkers seeing the formats that come in and trying to 
> mold them into something consistent. I mold them fairly easily in a word
> processor, by hand. And I save in MS .doc 1997~2003 format, because 
> everybody in the world can read that. And I write emails, and all I need to
> do is fix typos, which styles can't do!
>
> I rest my case.  --doug
>
>
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