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June 20, 2007
OpenOffice.org
Jean Hollis Weber discussed and demonstrated OpenOffice.org at the latest ASTC meeting.OpenOffice.org is an open source, community-developed, multi-platform office productivity suite. Jean, who has written a host of books about the suite, showed us that the capabilities of OpenOffice Writer (in particular) are not just comparable to those of Microsoft Word, but are even stronger in many areas.
Jean opened the discussion by talking about her experience with documenting OpenOffice. When she first started looking at OpenOffice, there was very little documentation, so she started documenting it and this lead to her publishing various books about the software.
OpenOffice Writer has native support for PDF, something that is very useful in a world where the PDF format is ubiquitous. The latest version of Microsoft Word has just included this feature, but it has long been present in OpenOffice.
Jean does not particularly recommend round-tripping documents between Microsoft Word and OpenOffice Writer. While OpenOffice can be used to recover corrupt Word files, not all the information in a Word file transfers across. Macros, for example, are not carried over. (My own experience is that there are also a few quirks with how layouts and page frames are converted.)
Many features in OpenOffice Writer remind one of more advanced tools like FrameMaker. For example, it has conditional text. However, from Jean's demonstration, it certainly looked a bit harder to set up and use than in FrameMaker. Like FrameMaker's conditions, they appear to be best used for discrete conditions, without too much overlap.
OpenOffice Writer has a master document feature similar to that in Microsoft Word; it also has support for fields, variables and change tracking. The lists feature works better than that of Microsoft Word.
Styles in OpenOffice Writer are organised not only into paragraph and character styles , but also into page styles, frame styles and list styles. The use of page styles means that, unlike in Word, you do not have to use section breaks to create a new type of page. Instead, you simply apply a different page style. You can also link a paragraph style to a page style. While OpenOffice Writer can be used to create complex layouts, Jean's view was that it may not be suited to high-end publishing.
Jean's demonstration showed that OpenOffice.org Writer is quite powerful and may be emerging as a good alternative to Microsoft Word. However, those intending to move to OpenOffice Writer need to approach it with the understanding that it is a very different software from Microsoft Word.
Related links
June 17, 2007
Acrobat 8
Brian Chau gave us a characteristically enthusiastic talk last month about Acrobat 8. The new reviewing and commenting features in this version of Acrobat seem quite useful to anyone sending out documents for reviews. There are also a host of other improvements.
With Acrobat 8, you can:
- create PDF documents from various sources and optimise them
- combine different kinds of files into a single PDF file
- collect data (using forms)
- collaborate with others and get feedback
- control access to documents and preserve document integrity.
Brian joked about scribbled comments and post-it notes not being the most secure (or effective) way of collating feedback. With Acrobat 8, you can email PDF documents directly from within the software. You can specify deadlines for the review and merge resulting review comments into a single document.
When in it comes to security, you can apply passwords and set permissions. You can also sign documents digitally and, for maximum protection, use 128-bit encryption. You can also permanently remove (or "redact") parts of the document such as text and illustrations. The "search and redact" feature should be very useful if you need to remove information from a large document.
Brian also spoke about moving away from a flat PDF file like the one created by printing to the Adobe PDF printer. It may be suitable for press jobs, but does not take advantage of the richer capabilities of the PDF format. Brian suggested using the Acrobat plug-in to create PDFs suitable for online use. An example of a "rich" PDF would be a CAD drawing converted to PDF format. Even without the native application installed, you will be able to select and turn off layers and look inside the drawing. Similarly, if you had a PDF created from a Microsoft Excel file, you would be able to preview and select individual worksheets. You can also attach files to any PDF file.
Tip: You no longer need the file's native application to create a PDF from the file.
Acrobat's forms feature also seems to have improved. You can now convert a plain printable form into a fillable Acrobat form (something Brian did with a visa application!). If you're creating forms yourself, you can add a Submit button to your form. When the forms are returned, you can collect them into a single PDF package and export collected data into a spreadsheet.
Overall, Brian's talk showed that the PDF format is constantly improving and that its application is widening rapidly. Soon, everyone will want, not only Adobe Reader, but Acrobat itself.
Related links
- Acrobat on the Adobe website
- First Look: Acrobat 8: A detailed overview of the new features from the Acrobat user community.