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Subject:How to find alternative tools From:Suzanne -dot- Cole -at- pattersondental -dot- com To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Mon, 20 Mar 2006 15:15:45 -0600
Can anyone recommend a search string (or suggest a website or other
resource) to help me find and compare alternatives to Word and OOo master
documents?
For the life of me, I can't come up with anything that gives me more than
those two, peppered with an occasional InDesign or FrameMaker, none of
which appear to be quite what I want. OpenOffice.org comes closest, but its
master document can't handle graphics the way I need it to*, and I'm
running out of time. I've tried STC archives, general Google and Vivisimo
searches, and techwr-l archives, but too much comes back, and none of it
tells me what I need to know.
I'm trying to find software that I can use to author and compile individual
chapter documents into a book. It needs to be easy to move from a lone
writer to a collaborative writing environment. It should be robust in both
authoring and page layout. It doesn't need to convert to PDF, because I
already have Acrobat. Please don't suggest that Word will do what I need.
I'm very well experienced in it up through W2000, and am tired of dealing
with file corruptions in templates and documents, and have no desire to add
master documents to that pile. I would like to avoid Word altogether.
But how do I build a search string to specifically find alternatives?
Nothing I do comes close enough. I'm not feeling very creative
today---maybe that's part of the problem. I'm missing something. There must
be a better way to go about it. So far, the results make me feel as though
I'm examining each individual straw in a haystack to see whether a needle
is stuck to it, each time discovering the straw is from the wrong haystack.
Any pointers or suggestions would be gratefully received. I'm on digest,
so would appreciate it if you could either copy me or reply offlist.
Thanks!
---Fox
*In OOo Writer, drawn objects such as circles and lines may look fine in
the individual chapter document, but in the master document will move
behind the graphic they should be in front of, or they'll shift, or
disappear. Grouping them sometimes helps. Sometimes. Also, some graphic
objects that look fine in the chapter document snap to the location of
their anchor when they shouldn't, after linking in to the master document.
The anchors themselves are difficult to control. The Writer forum has only
been able to suggest putting the drawn objects and graphic into Draw and
creating a single graphic file. This doesn't meet our needs... there are
reasons we draw circles and lines. But that's another discussion.
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