OpenOffice.org


Yes, that is a Web address and a name. OpenOffice.org uses its Web address as the name of the program suite. Some might call it clever. Some might call it marketing. I will just call it a name.

The OpenOffice.org productivity suite includes most of the program types that you expect in an office suite. There is a word processor, a spreadsheet program, a presentation creator, and a program for diagrams. OpenOffice is a direct assault on the Microsoft Office suite. Every program in OOo is designed to be able to open documents from its MS Office counterpart and to come close to approximating the features in the MS Office programs. Sometimes OpenOffice hits the mark beautifully, and sometimes you grin and bear the differences. Besides trying to equal Microsoft Office, OpenOffice does a good job of taking itself seriously enough to come up with unique features of its own.

All the OpenOffice programs are available for both Linux and Windows. Mac users can also run OOo through Apple's X Server program. This cross-platform compatibility of OpenOffice.org means that you can smoothly share documents with users of other operating systemsas soon as you talk them into using OpenOffice.org instead of Microsoft Office.

UNDER THE HOOD

WHAT'S BEHIND DOOR NO. 1?

When you have a document that was originally created in Microsoft Office and then go to open the document in an OpenOffice program, you get a tantalizing few moments of mystery. It's sort of that same fear of the unknown that you used to get when eating in your school cafeteria. You just don't know what is going to happen next.

With OpenOffice.org, usually nothing bad happens when you open your Microsoft Office document. Most documents open and display without a hitch. The trouble comes with documents that use complex formatting or Windows fonts that you don't have installed on your Linux system. There isn't much you can do in these situations but to reformat the document in an OpenOffice program. One small consolation is that each new version of OpenOffice.org works out a few more kinks.


OpenOffice.org Writer

Program Info

Fedora/GNOME menu

Office > OpenOffice.org Writer

Mandrake/KDE menu

Office > Word Processors > OpenOffice.org Writer

Terminal command

oowriter

Program URL

http://www.openoffice.org/


OpenOffice.org Writer is one of the two main anchors of the OOo office suite. Writer is a great program that can live up to the expectations of MS Word users most of the time. The only places where Writer might be said to fail are really not failures as much as differences in the tools of the programs. Writer is a sophisticated word-processing program with many basic text- and paragraph-formatting options, tables, the capability to embed images, styles, and good document-layout features.

You can use Writer for more complex duties than simple letter or document word processing. You can work collaboratively with the versioning system that allows for changes to documents to be accepted or rejected. Autocorrection has strong choices in its settings to correct most minor typing mistakes. You can also mark spelling and grammar mistakes as you type. Documents can use database merging for form letters and addressing. There are also indexing functions for navigating long documents.

I like using the program, but a few aspects of OpenOffice.org Writer still bug me. Some fonts still display oddly in Writer, even though they display smoothly in other programs. Table creation and editing work all right but are kind of awkward. The Stylist handles document styles created or edited in Writer quite well, with some style features more usable than they are in MS Office, but the Stylist freaks out a bit with complex styles that are brought in through a document created in another word-processing program and fails to display some underlining or adds odd characters.

The layout of OOo Writer (see Figure 8.2) is simple and similar to other word-processing programs. The differences come in the left sidebar and the various floating windows. Your toolbars and the sidebar are almost fully customizable by right-clicking a toolbar and choosing Customize. Many tools, such as the Stylist (Format > Stylist), pop up in floating windows that you can move around wherever you need them. The basic text-formatting options on the toolbars, such as fonts, bold, alignment, and indenting, are very easy to use and can be applied with just a click of the mouse. The best way to start becoming comfortable and familiar with the tools in Writer is to get started using it and exploring.

Figure 8.2. OpenOffice.org Writer.


TOOL KIT 8.1

Giving You an OpenOffice.org Writing Assignment

With Clippy on the rampage, I think the responsibility falls to all of us, not just to those Microsoft employees who were sent out to look for him. I mean, we're talking about a drunken paper clip here. That thing has got sharp edges on it. Think of the children!

We need to all brush up on our detective skills. The accepted method to become a real, legitimate detective is, of course, to read old detective novels, such as those of the Mickey Spillane type. I say, because we already have OpenOffice.org Writer open, let's not read a detective novellet's write something in the style of a detective novel.

Now to make sure that we are also learning the features of OOo Writer, we will have a few rules for our assignment.

1.

Make your text justified in its alignment.

2.

Change the font of your text to a sans serif font of your choice (such as Nimbus Sans, Lucida Sans, Arial, or Tahoma).

3.

Change the font of your title to 14 point, bold. Change the font of your text to 11 point.

4.

Use at least one instance of italics and one of underlining in your text somewhere.

5.

Save copies of your file in the OOo Writer format (.swx) and in Microsoft Word format (.doc).

Happy detective-ing. Oh, and I do take off points for spelling.


FRIDGE

My OpenOffice Writer Assignment, The Gumshoe Tale: Looking for a Pen

I don't know what she is talking about. She just seems to go on and on like that. I came in here this morning because Jake said there was a pen on the desk I could borrow. Now I'm stuck sitting here listening to some leggy brunette go on and on about the wife she never was and the husband he really isn't and what happened with the gun and that her sister was a whore and would I help her out. I don't know if I'm helping her out or even why I'm still in here, but there's the pen I came looking for. It's a nice pen.

"I'm afraid to go back to the place now. Ya think someone called the cops yet? Do ya think they would know that it was me? What do you usually do when this happens?" She wouldn't stop talking like this. "Brenda told me you were a good guy. She said you knew what you were doing. She said that you were the person to help me out."

I just came in here to borrow a pen. I might even keep the pen. It's a nice gold pen, and Jake probably won't know that it's even gone. I don't need this dame coming in here making me dizzy with all this gab.

Jake's a detective. He's this big guy who just bowls over all the dames. He knows how to talk suave and all. I help him out once in a while when he needs somebody to do some legwork. He says if I help him out sometimes, he'll teach me things. He hasn't told me what yet, but I bet it'll get me a girl.

"Why are you just sitting there?"

She's pretty, this girl, but she's awfully upset. She looks like trouble. Jake knows when a dame might be trouble. Jake had to go work on a case in Philadelphia. He said I should watch the place while he was gone.

"Aren't you gonna help me?"

She's talking to me. I don't know what to tell her. I'm not a detective. I'm just sort of watching the place. I just needed this pen. This girl is crying now. I don't know what to tell a crying dame. Jake hasn't taught me that part yet.

"Why do you keep just looking at that pen? Brenda said you were a good guy, Jake."

Boy, how'd I get in the middle of this? She thinks I'm Jake. She's going on about the cops and getting caught at something. She thinks I'm going to help her. This is trouble, the kind of trouble I know I don't want. I need to just tell her that I'm not Jake and that she should probably just go to the cops.

Instead, I grab the pen and get ready to just go. I came for the pen and I've got the pen.

"Uh, listen." I hand her a tissue, since she's getting a little moist in the eyes and all. That's all suave, and I should try to be all suave on this. "I gotta go check on something . . . something in the other room there. You, umm, start thinking about how everything happened. I think I'm going to need details. And get everything straight in the right order."

The door, I need the door. The door has the secretary's room on the other side, and that's got the phone. "J. Delancey, Detective," that's what's on the door, the door with the phone on the other side of it. Except that I'm J. Delancey right now. I need a pen to write down what Jake tells me when I call him. I left the pen back in the other room.


OpenOffice.org Calc

Program Info

Fedora/GNOME menu

Office > OpenOffice.org Calc

Mandrake/KDE menu

Office > Spreadsheets > OpenOffice.org Calc

Terminal command

oocalc

Program URL

http://www.openoffice.org/


Calc is the free alternative to Microsoft Excel. Now, most frequent Excel users are very informed about financial functions. OOo Calc meets and exceeds the bar set by Excel to such a degree that the money people should look at the price comparison between free and complicated licensing scheme and never look back. Calc is a great spreadsheet program with a wide range of functions to choose from, good customizing options, great chart and graphing tools in 2D or 3D, and the capability to pull data from external databases.

If you are a dedicated number cruncher, you don't need me to tell you where anything is in the OpenOffice.org Calc interface (see Figure 8.3). All the tools you need will be easy to find and intuitive to use. Novices to spreadsheets will find help by using built-in templates, formulas, and functions. You can also use formulas with words instead of cell references, such as "expenses budget."

Figure 8.3. OpenOffice.org Calc showing the current cost figures in the search for Clippy.


Clippy's Evil Archnemesis

Deep within the recesses of your OpenOffice.org program suite lurks a dark and menacing interloper. He is determined. He is evil. He is . . . (wait, let's pause again for extra drama) . . . a light bulb!!! DA-DA-DUM!!!

Figure 8.4. The OpenOffice.org mascot.


Yes, OpenOffice was so eager to mimic Microsoft Office that they even created their own little nudnick. Want to turn him off? Just uncheck the option on the menus under Help > Help Agent.


A few bugs still pop up in OOo Calc, but they are usually minor and are already documented on the Web site. Each new version of the OpenOffice.org suite fixes the bugs you knew about and many that you didn't. Excel is full of wizards that are not in Calc. Some new users might rue the lack of step-by-step help, but experienced spreadsheet users will breathe a sigh of relief at being able to do what they want to do without having to go through the extra steps. A few font display problems still in Calc are similar to the quirks in Writer, but spreadsheets print nicely and do not carry the font display issue to the printer. Calc is fast and has a good utilitarian feel that you need when working with numbers and formulas.

TOOL KIT 8.2

Adding a Function in an OpenOffice.org Spreadsheet

1.

Open OOo Calc and put a bunch of numbers down column A. Fill up from cell A1 to cell A10 with any numbers you like.

2.

Click in cell A11. Now we will add the total of the numbers in cells A1 to A10. There are two ways to do this.

3.

The first way is to just click the Sum button near the formula bar above your spreadsheet. It's to the left of the equals sign button, and it reads "Sum" when you mouse over it. When you click that Sum button, Calc looks to see how many rows of numbers you might want to add up. It assumes A1 through A10 right away. Click Enter, and you're done. If you want to change the formula to add cells A5 through A10, you can edit the cell value in the formula bar.

4.

The second way to create a sum total cell is through the menu. Delete the contents of cell A11 so we can start over. Highlight cell A11 again.

5.

Go to the menu and choose Insert > Function. A dialog box with a list of functions pops up.

6.

Scroll down the list. As you highlight each function, you can see a description of it to the right. Find Sum in the list. You can fill in each cell label in all the number fields, or you can type in the Formula field below. Type in "A1:A10" in between the parentheses, and click OK.

You can now add in the spreadsheet way. Maybe that's what people mean when they say "new math."


OpenOffice.org Impress

Program Info

Fedora/GNOME menu

Office > OpenOffice.org Impress

Mandrake/KDE menu

Office >Presentations > OpenOffice.org Impress

Terminal command

ooimpress

Program URL

http://www.openoffice.org/


I have a pun, but I am going to put it away in the drawer where bad puns belong. It was a pun about being impressed. You are now free to groan. The reason for my bad pun attempt is that OpenOffice.org Impress (see Figure 8.5) does not quite live up to its counterpart in the MS Office world as well as OOo Writer and OOo Calc live up to theirs. Impress is good at keeping basic with what it does, but it lacks the power of Microsoft PowerPoint. I give Impress kudos for a good try, though. Impress seems a little less mature than Writer or Calc, but it does show off some good features.

Figure 8.5. OpenOffice.org Impress.


When you open OOo Impress, you can use a wizard to fill in the base information for a quick presentation. This setup works quite well for most users who need to create a presentation full of slides with bullet points and titles. You can add clip art, work with drawing tools, and add animated special effects for transitions. Impress also works well with OpenOffice Draw to bring in graphics created in Draw. One saving grace in Impress for busy users who don't want to mess with the details is an autolayout feature that arranges your text and bullet points in an attractive layout on each slide so you don't have to. You can then tweak the layout as much as you need.

Impress is a great tool for quick presentations, but it does lack a few of the more sophisticated features found in MS PowerPoint and Apple's KeyNote. If you just need to create a simple presentation with a few animations to show off your points, this program does a great job.

OpenOffice.org Draw

Program Info

Fedora/GNOME menu

Office > OpenOffice.org Draw

Mandrake/KDE menu

Office > OpenOffice.org Draw

Terminal command

oodraw

Program URL

http://www.openoffice.org/


OpenOffice.org Draw is an odd duck. The program is both a standalone program and a complementary program to OOo Writer. There isn't really a direct counterpart for Draw to compete against in the MS Office world, although it can handle some of the work you might use Visio for without specializing in those tasks. Draw is a simple graphics tool that enables you to create quick sketch representations or complex diagrams. You can create 2D and 3D shapes (see Figure 8.6), use connectors for flowcharts and network diagrams, and use Bezier curves.

Figure 8.6. OpenOffice.org Draw showing some basic shapes.


To create shapes and graphics, you mostly use the tools on the left sidebar and then supplement those with formatting buttons on the top toolbars for things such as color and text formatting. You can turn text into shapes, similar to but more powerful than MS Office's Word Art. Importing and exporting images is easy, with support for GIF, PNG, JPG, TIF, and BMP. Don't expect to be able to edit photo images in Draw, though; you can edit only graphics created in Draw.



Linux Desktop(c) Garage
Linux(R) Desktop Garage
ISBN: 0131494198
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 141

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