Free Software Linux

This will all change with OpenOffice.org 3.0, which is bringing in Microsoft Office-style display of notes. However, until then, here's some good stuff to know. You can insert a note, aka a comment, by clicking in the text and choosing Insert > Note. You get this box; you type; you click OK. You then see the note indicator. It's a small yellow box. Move your mouse over the box and you'll see the note.

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.

I've created some quick-reference sheets. The layout looks like this. Click the image to see it bigger. It's tables that repeat in three columns on each page. I needed columns so that I could keep the procedure name, in the left column of each table, together with the content in the right side of each table, the steps for the procedure. I also needed a heading at the top that spanned the columns. I fiddled with a few ways to do it but here's what I ended up with. - I set the top margin of the first page as 1.5 inches or so from the top, then inserted a frame the width of the page, to hold the heading content. (Insert > Frame.) - I set up the page layout with three columns. (Format > Page, Columns tab.)

I've been doing some table-based layout recently, in my quick-reference cards. I got to know the table flow options real well. Here are some good solid table control features. Text Flow tab Get to know this one. Click in the table and choose Table > Table Properties. Click the Text Flow tab. Break: If you want a cell to start at the top of a new page or column click in that cell, and then in this window select Break and Column or Page. Conversely, if you've got a table that starts at the top of a page or column and don't want it to, unmark the Break option. Allow Table to Split Across Pages and Columns: You're going to have some weird layout with your longer tables if you don't let the table at least split across columns.

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 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.

See also my post on the pagination extension. All right. It's the elephant in the room, and it's time to address it. How do you have no page number on the first page, then have the second page start with the page number 1 in the footer? Or with page number 42, or 623? (Or how do you have a landscape page in a portrait document?) Good question. It's a common one. It's actually not more complex than the tax code, but there's some setup you need to do that's a little more complicated than the task at hand. I would like to see a checkbox/field combination somewhere  that would let you specify "For this document, start the page footer on page __ and make the first page number be ___". However, for now, we do it this way.