Re: [libreoffice-users] Character Styles

Hi :)
I think it's great that LibreOffice allows both systems to be used within a
single document.  I rarely need to completely change the entire look of any
documents so direct formatting works well for me.

I think this is one of those things that you can make as simple or as
complex as you like.  Just because a choice exists doesn't mean you have to
use it.

So, my use of style is very minimal but is a HUGE help that saves me often
hours hours of work every time i have to import anything from certain
colleagues.

The only time i collaborate with others is when they give me documents for
a quarterly newsletter and once i've reformatted their work i tend to never
need to reformat it or make any changes at all.  So the only style that
really matters to me is the "body text" one, or the "default" one.  The
various headings help a little bit.  So although styles can be far more
complicated and allow much flexibility all of that is beyond my
requirements.  Even if i did need the more advanced stuff the biggest
saving in time was with the initial "paste as unformatted text" and finding
the text already in the format i wanted.

I am glad the more complicated stuff is there so that if i ever had more
advanced requirements i could upscale quite easily.

However i think "scaring people off" by pointing out how complicated it all
could be might make them miss out on the huge benefits they could get from
the very simple bits of it.


Oooops!  sorry for ranting!  I know it's not the way you meant it!  Happy
Easter all! :)))
Regards from
Tom :)


On 17 April 2014 02:03, Virgil Arrington <cuyfalls@hotmail.com> wrote:

> On 04/16/2014 04:08 PM, Kevin O'Brien wrote:
>
> > Interesting point, Virgil. I think we need to weak a fine line between
> > providing a tool that we can use intelligently, and forcing people to
> > do something they don't understand. Using styles the right way is
> > something you have to be educated about. Like you, I started by
> > getting the idea that I could change styles throughout the document if
> > I used them consistently. But it took longer for me to really
> > appreciate the need to do functional style definitions. Any character
> > can be bold for a variety of reasons, and the key is to create and use
> > styles based on the function of that element in a document. That way,
> > you can change a subset of all of the bold characters without changing
> > others. But that requires starting to really think about the
> > architecture of your information.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> >
> >  Good points, Kevin. I'm learning that using styles takes a lot of
> thought and planning. I like the way I can customize LO to make it do
> amazing things. But, it can't be done thoughtlessly, or you'll end up
> redoing stuff later on.
>
> It occurs to me that, when we create style definitions, what we're really
> doing is making LO work more like LyX. The difference is that, with LyX,
> somebody else has already created really good styles (called
> "environments") thus shielding the user from the need to create them.
> Problem is, when the pre-created environments don't meet your needs, you
> have a steep learning curve to try to change them. With LO, you can much
> more easily create and modify styles, but, if you want really good output,
> you *have* to create and modify your styles, and that takes thoughtful
> planning. For a person just wanting to get his project done, the need to
> create and customize the styles seems to get in the way. It's as if each
> user is actually "finishing" LO by making it work the way s/he prefers. In
> creating my LO styles, I've tried to use LyX environments as a model,
> mimicking their output, and tweaking where I find it helpful.
>
>
> Virgil
>
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