I hate MS like pure poison, but....

I think you'll find parallel columns were in WP back to at least version 3ish (yep good old DOS days). It's a feature that Word doesn't have, but there are a few ways to achieve similar formatting in Word.
 
I think I need to change the formatting of that newsletter template next time it's my turn to use it. Whoever set it up used the columns formatting, just like it tells you to do if you're writing a newsletter. Except it drives you mad, as changes to one column affect the layout of the other.

To me, that's one more illustration of how non-intuitive Word is for ordinary users. I hear of people going to training seminars to use Word, and so on. I've ploughed my way through the online help myself more than once, usually to find there was no way to do what I wanted anyway. The very idea of a training seminar being needed for WP is just risible. (Though I suppose someone will find one on offer....)

Rolfe.
 
Heh, when it comes to more advanced text formatting options for documents, I skip Word and their ilk altogether and go straight to page layout apps like InDesign or QuarkXPress. You get far more control and options. But, of course, they're also much more sophisticated (and expensive). But I'm used to using them, so for me it's easier to do stuff in them than mess around in other programs.
 
Yes, I've seen what people can do in these programmes and it's impressive. I don't have the requirement for such sophistication, so I'm not into spending that sort of money. However, WP has always impressed me with how close it can get to a lot of that while staying within the word processor box.

Rolfe.
 
Rolfe said:
Hmm, worth considering. The thing is, they're gagging to give me the lot, on these offers, and I actively don't want Word anywhere near my hard disc. Last time I did that, it changed all the fonts on my existing WordPerfect documents.

Rolfe.
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure that installing Word didn't change the fonts in your existing documents. You can either not install Word, or install it and not use it.
 
It certainly did, back in 1997. Probably wouldn't now, I agree. I just hate it so much I don't even want to own it, not even as a cheap way to get what I do want to own. Irrational, I agree.

Rolfe.
 
Well, colour me surprised. I can't even think of any mechanism whereby that could happen. I've installed Office 97 a good hundred times or so, and it shouldn't accessing, still less altering, files other than those needed to install.

Anyway, I'm familiar with the irrationality, although mine is normally limited to hardware, which is why I never bought WD disks for years, and will still not buy anything Belkin apart from cables.
 
Rat said:
I'm pretty sure that installing Word didn't change the fonts in your existing documents. You can either not install Word, or install it and not use it.
Click to expand...

Perhaps Rolfe means it changed all the fonts on the existing WordPerfect documents when they are viewed in Word.

Which is very likely.

Not that it changed all the fonts on the existing WordPerfect documents when they are viewed in WordPerfect.

Which, I agree, is theoretically impossible.
 
OnlyTellsTruths said:
Perhaps Rolfe means it changed all the fonts on the existing WordPerfect documents when they are viewed in Word.

Which is very likely.

Not that it changed all the fonts on the existing WordPerfect documents when they are viewed in WordPerfect.

Which, I agree, is theoretically impossible.
Click to expand...
That's certainly what I suspect. Particularly as this would be in the days when TT/OT fonts were far from universal, but I have no knowledge at all of how WP uses fonts. Last time I used WP was in the very early 90s, when I seem to recall it used red to represent bold and green for italics, or some such.
 
It changed the fonts as the documents were viewed in WordPerfect. I think this was back in the day that WP had its own fonts, and I think Word must have done something to them when it was installed. WP doesn't have its own installed fonts now, so I don't think it would be an issue.

I find the reveal codes in Word to be very limited. It doesn't really let you see how the document is constructed. The first time I saw the reveal codes screen in WP I was horrified - I thought I'd died and gone to hell. However I figured out what it was and what it was for very quickly, and I soon realised I couldn't do without it. Having learned HTML subsequently, I can see that WP is structured in a very similar manner, and the reveal codes screen is a bit like viewing an html document in a text editor.

Rolfe.
 
I'll tell you the one thing I really hate about Word.

Section Breaks.

Seriously. If you want to have one page landscape in a document that is otherwise portrait, you have to put a Section Break at its top and bottom. That then splits your document into multiple sections, so you have to then tell it to number pages consecutively instead of starting over in each section, and you have to tell it to continue using the previous section's header and footer, 'cause otherwise the single landscape page will get its own, and even worse, they'll be a first page header and footer unless you've turned "different first page" off for that section!

I can make a Word document get up and sing, but Section Breaks are a huge pain in the ass and I hate them... so much... flames... flames - at the sides of my face...
 
I never got that far with Word. In WordPerfect, you just tell it that the page orientation is now landscape. When you want to go back to portrait, you tell it that. Nothing more to it. That's how this PDF was created - note the last page. Sorry, no headers or footers to demonstrate, and I turned off the page number on the landscape page to fit all the pictures in, but it works fine.

Rolfe.
 
Last edited:
If LibreOffice doesn't float your boat, you could try OpenOffice?

I didn't like it much, but I'm not sure whether their presentation software works well. I'm a big fan of Keynote, in which, if I were doing what it sounds like you want to do, I would export a prez into PDF. I think (but do not know) that Adobe can actually do the stuff you want with notes. Maybe you have to buy their publisher version to do those things.

I also stuck with WordPerfect (and Lotus notes) for longer than most.
 
Well, I guess sideways is as good as anything. I phoned IT at work to get instructions to access the new Thin Client setup from my home PC, logged in, and although it's slow, I can use Powerpoint with a document on my own desktop.

Sorted, at least for now.

Now, if only I wasn't getting adverts for PowerPoint deals on every web page I open, it would all be fine.

Rolfe.
 
Gord_in_Toronto said:
I have been using LibreOffice extensively for both documents and spreadsheets its seems to be very compatible with Office 2003 and Excel.

I just checked and the presentation component says it saves in a variety of PowerPoint versions. I have used it for a couple of presentations but just kept the LO format.

YMMV & etc. ;)
Click to expand...

I've been using openoffice then libreoffice for years and yes it's a great piece of open software. I believe I've never run into a single useful feature on MSO that I can't reproduce on OO/LibreO. HOWEVER. These are NOT 100% compatible. If you import an OO presentation to LibreO you'll find there are minor pagination differences, the graphcs are 're-arranged' on the page. There may be some font differences (tho' you can install more fonts).

So these are not 100% inter-compatible.
LibreOffice costs $0.
MSO costs $90-350 depending on the flavor.
Unless you require MSO compatibility the choice is obvious.


Rolfe said:
Thanks for that. I just tried it, and it is indeed a huge improvement over what I had. It's still not perfect though - it's not displaying exactly as it does in PowerPoint - and there is a problem with the notes. I have quite extensive notes in the presentation, and these aren't displaying at all. Blank pages where notes should be.

Any idea why?

Rolfe.
Click to expand...


As I said importing an MSO does not provide 100% compatible results. If you started withe a LibreO and imported it to MSO you'd see similar problems. MSO and LibreO both have a 'notes' features and I've never seen that specific issue.
 
stevea said:
I've been using openoffice then libreoffice for years and yes it's a great piece of open software. I believe I've never run into a single useful feature on MSO that I can't reproduce on OO/LibreO. HOWEVER. These are NOT 100% compatible. If you import an OO presentation to LibreO you'll find there are minor pagination differences, the graphcs are 're-arranged' on the page. There may be some font differences (tho' you can install more fonts).

So these are not 100% inter-compatible.
LibreOffice costs $0.
MSO costs $90-350 depending on the flavor.
Unless you require MSO compatibility the choice is obvious.





As I said importing an MSO does not provide 100% compatible results. If you started withe a LibreO and imported it to MSO you'd see similar problems. MSO and LibreO both have a 'notes' features and I've never seen that specific issue.
Click to expand...
I just HAVE to point out that there are also compatibility issues in between various version of Microsoft Office itself. I'm not speaking about a obvious issues like docx vs doc, or Mac vs. Win, but even some trivial stuff like sending a doc file from one installation of Office on Win to another installation on Win. One can minimize those (in between different Office versions) by sticking to the latest updates and to certain core features. But Office is not maintained perfectly, and sometimes frustratingly bad, by Microsoft for version compatibility.

My experience is this: If you want your Office files read by other people, don't use Office to produce them, but export to an Office format from another suite (non-Microsoft companies seem to stick to fixed, safe features).

If you need to make sure to open any Office file send to you, you need to keep different Office versions. It's one of the reasons I still have Office in my virtual Windows installation. It's rare to get a file that's making trouble with importing into my standard software, but there are occasionally problems even with opening in Office:Mac. The worst trouble I've ever had involved Office 2007 (on my machine, fully updated, Windows XP) and a Word file from a not fully updated Office 2003 (also on Windows XP).

If you want to make sure that files appear the same on various computers, don't use Office at all. PDF is currently one of my favorites for text and even presentations.
 
Last edited:
BenBurch said:
In a decade or so, Microsoft will be gone except for it's office suite, which will have atrophied due to changes in the way work gets done. I'm sure the Apple Store will sell quite a few of them at $19.95.
Click to expand...

I can do you one better (in the opposite direction)

Without Steve Jobs at the head, Apple will flounder within ten years as those left in charge will eventually duke it out over what direction to take the company and what new products to develop to market.

MS will bail out Apple again like they did back in the 90's after Jobs had regained control of Apple by buying large amounts of stock. But this time there will be no Steve Jobs to drive the company back to the top again.

And Apple dies a slow fading death much the same way the Amiga did back in the 80's

I think read it in a Nostradamus quatrain somewhere.
 
Last edited:
arthwollipot said:
I'll tell you the one thing I really hate about Word.

Section Breaks.

Seriously. If you want to have one page landscape in a document that is otherwise portrait, you have to put a Section Break at its top and bottom. That then splits your document into multiple sections, so you have to then tell it to number pages consecutively instead of starting over in each section, and you have to tell it to continue using the previous section's header and footer, 'cause otherwise the single landscape page will get its own, and even worse, they'll be a first page header and footer unless you've turned "different first page" off for that section!

I can make a Word document get up and sing, but Section Breaks are a huge pain in the ass and I hate them... so much... flames... flames - at the sides of my face...
Click to expand...


I just found more things I don't like about Word.

It won't let you subtly tweak the line spacing. (How many times have I got a document to fit Just So, by setting the line spacing on WP to 0.99?)

It seems to go up point sizes by 0.5 steps. WP will take 0.1 steps.

It seems remarkably limited in how it will let you format your page numbering. WP will sit up and beg.

I got an email at work yesterday saying we're all going to get new upgraded MS Office suites next month. Hell and damnation, they'll probably all be worse.

I think I will go and give WP some money for version 16.

Rolfe.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom