[lug] typesetting programs

David Morris lists at morris-clan.net
Fri Dec 13 13:03:15 MST 2002


On Thu, Dec 12, 2002 at 03:58:51PM -0700, Solveig Haugland wrote:
>  Hi,
> 
> Intro: I'm a contract techwriter and author in Lafayette.
> 
> Does StarOffice or OpenOffice.org sound useful for typesetting? The XML 
> structure makes non-GUI editing pretty slick.

A program like OpenOffice.org or StarOffice is a WYSIWYG
editor, not a typesetting program....If you are looking for
an interactive program, OpenOffice.org works very well, and
if you are careful you can edit the XML files directly if
you need to.  A typesetting is a non-interactive
(non-WYSIWYG) method of doing the same thing.  This usually
allows you to be more precise and consistent about the
document structure, but it is more difficult for Joe User to
deal with.  On the other hand, a WYSIWYG editor cannot be
scripted, where as a typesetting program can.

Each has their definate place in the world, just think
carefully about which type of document creation you need.
OpenOffice.org is arguably the best WYSIWYG document
creation package available for Linux/Unix world, though
StarOffice is better at a some tasks.

--David




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