Free Software Linux

I've been blogging about sorting for a while:

• Easy sorting
• Standard, more powerful sorting
• Sorting by a custom sort order

There's just one more thing to mention: creating your own custom sort order. Existing sort orders are things like Monday Tuesday Wednesday (the right order, which is not alphabetical). But let's say you've got things you want in a certain logical but non-alphabetical order that aren't already set up in OpenOffice.org: titles of books or people, procedures done in a certain order, or your own abbreviations for the days of the week. You can create sort orders for those very easily so you can sort by them.

Back in the good old days of 1.x, you could draw a line, then draw an object, and make the object move along whatever line that was. It was great. Then the lovely redesign of Impress came, and that user-defined motion path feature got lost along the way.  It was a sad time. However, now in 2.3 it's back! It works slightly differently, but it's great. In addition, you can edit the existing motion paths like the stars, etc. Here's how it works. Draw an object, then under Custom Animation???s Motion Paths tab, select any one of the first three effects.

I've written a big  "what, why, and how" article on styles for TechTarget.com. http://searchopensource.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid39_gci1230137,00.html It starts with just how useful styles are in daily life and why they make life great, then goes into just how to apply, create, and update them.

I've written a fairly comprehensive article for techtarget on lists. See also this post on how to do numbering with fields. Fields are a more reliable but more complex approach.

I've written an article for TechTarget.com about using master documents in OpenOffice.org Writer. http://searchopensource.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid39_gci1230368,00.html Master documents are used to combine lots of other Writer documents. They're similar to Word master files or Frame book files in that they organize your subdocuments, let you create a unified table of contents, etc.  They're a bit picky but once you've got them set up, they work quite reliably.

It takes a while to load, but should run fine once it gets going. (Optimization is one of the things I'm working on as I create more of these.) It's about how to create cross-references in Writer, and what they are. Note: The video uses the Navigator (press F5) to get around more easily to various headings being referenced. The Navigator shows you the structure of your document and the objects in it. By "structure" I mean that it shows all the text to which you have applied the paragraph styles Heading1, Heading2, and so on. More specifically, it shows whatever you have set up as the paragraph styles defining your documentBy structure under Tools > Outline Numbering. That's a whole nother topic, though a very useful one. To learn more about outline numbering and the Navigator, see these blog entries.

I've written an article for TechTarget that's not really about using OpenOffice.org per se. It's more about good document construction and formatting.  The thing is, though, when you do the formatting correctly, lots of nice things happen. The document looks more professional, it's far easier to update, and goes between Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org more easily with fewer formatting snafus. And it's not just between those two office suites--better-formatted documents transfer better between different versions of the same office suite, different platforms, and different computers.

I've been blogging about sorting for a while:

• Easy sorting
• Standard, more powerful sorting
• Sorting by a custom sort order

There's just one more thing to mention: creating your own custom sort order. Existing sort orders are things like Monday Tuesday Wednesday (the right order, which is not alphabetical). But let's say you've got things you want in a certain logical but non-alphabetical order that aren't already set up in OpenOffice.org: titles of books or people, procedures done in a certain order, or your own abbreviations for the days of the week. You can create sort orders for those very easily so you can sort by them.

Back in the good old days of 1.x, you could draw a line, then draw an object, and make the object move along whatever line that was. It was great. Then the lovely redesign of Impress came, and that user-defined motion path feature got lost along the way.  It was a sad time. However, now in 2.3 it's back! It works slightly differently, but it's great. In addition, you can edit the existing motion paths like the stars, etc. Here's how it works. Draw an object, then under Custom Animation’s Motion Paths tab, select any one of the first three effects.

I like to fiddle around with Draw. I like it a lot.  ;>  In the release 2.0 release I need to do it less because of all the great prefab shapes. However, sometimes you just need to create your own shapes. Make a shape vaguely like a Hershey's kiss, or just make something totally unusual. You have the tools to do this with the Mode toolbar. Choose View > Toolbars > Mode. The far right tool on the upper row and the first two on the lower row are the fun ones.

I've written a big  "what, why, and how" article on styles for TechTarget.com. http://searchopensource.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid39_gci1230137,00.html It starts with just how useful styles are in daily life and why they make life great, then goes into just how to apply, create, and update them.

I've written a fairly comprehensive article for techtarget on lists. See also this post on how to do numbering with fields. Fields are a more reliable but more complex approach.

I've written an article for TechTarget.com about using master documents in OpenOffice.org Writer. http://searchopensource.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid39_gci1230368,00.html Master documents are used to combine lots of other Writer documents. They're similar to Word master files or Frame book files in that they organize your subdocuments, let you create a unified table of contents, etc.  They're a bit picky but once you've got them set up, they work quite reliably.

When you add a graphic to a document, you can either plop it straight in so it's stored in the document, or you can link the graphic so that the document just points to where the graphic is stored. It looks the same either way, but here's the thing. When you email your document to someone, or post your template in a network directory, what happens to that link pointing to the graphic? The link points back to your directory at home\documentdrafts\2008\graphics\teamphoto.gif  or whatever the path is. And your cousin in Phoenix or the other people on your team can't get to that graphic. So what you want to do, typically, when you're sending documents or templates to other people that those people need to work with, is to make sure that your graphics are embedded in your document.

I really thought that I had posted this article, but I have not seen it in a quick page through. http://www.fanaticattack.com/2008/switching-office-suites-from-microsoft-office-to-openofficeorg.html It is a big, big article with most of what I recommend about setting up and switching, with the primary focus on individual users. But it applies to transitioning groups, as well. See also this blog post, which has some really specific info about how to distribute clip art to many users on a network.