Mr. Picklesworth
June 23rd, 2008, 06:34 AM
In attempting to carry out a completely simple task, I have come to the new realization that every popular word processor is broken for me. Not sure if it's a temporary thing to do with the position of the stars, the way I am using them or one of those rather unlikely "surrounded by frickin` idiots" situations, but it's certainly unpleasant.
Basically, I decided to redo my resume with some up to date information and better formatting. I tried OpenOffice but then remembered my eyes will fall out if I use the thing for too long thanks to its nonsensical choice of user interface toolkit. More fairly, I like OpenOffice for its huge range of features, but am not convinced by the MS Office feel. Really convoluted madness there.
Started off with a new document in Abiword, where most of the document was based around a table. Went fairly well. Some early warning signs when I was having trouble selecting some paragraphs in the document to change their font style, instead needing to select them individually rather than by bulk. I was having a heck of a time getting these settings to stick.
Next was a table inside a table for the sake of easily dividing a column into two. (Turns out AbiWord actually does pretty nicely with tables and I could have split the cell cleanly with Add Column). That table was nudged down by a line break above it that, no matter what I tried, would not leave. Decided to delete that table. Did so, then saved, then exited to see if restarting the program made a difference. It did: The document no longer opens, with AbiWord telling me that the document is invalid! Backup file is also broken. Joy!
Odd discovery: OpenOffice, which is known to bring back the dead, imports all kinds of proprietary reverse-engineered formats, but not abiword format. There is undoubtedly a plugin out there, but it was rather surprising to me.
These various glitches are not an uncommon experience for me with any word processors. I always encounter problems with inexplicable line breaks and fonts that do not stick. (Unselectable paragraphs are a new one). AbiWord has actually worked great for me before since it is nicely integrated with the desktop, quick and generally quite tidy in design. A shame that it started acting up here.
I had the same experience to follow with Google Documents and OpenOffice when I tried redoing the document from scratch again. (Thankfully I had run a test print a while ago).
It was at this point that I realized: I Hate Word Processors.
Is there anything else out there that has sort of sneaked under the radar for not using the same horrendous content + formatting collision we see in modern word processors? I'm willing to bet that is what causes these problems for me. I have heard a little about TeX and it sounds like the sort of design that would do me well... Can you tell me more about it? Perhaps a nice editor for that stuff?
Better yet, do I just type wrong or something, in a way that offends word processors?
By the way, I will be doing the Google and whatnot (okay, enough computer-illiterate-speak); just posting here to get opinions and thoughts that a search engine can't manage :)
Basically, I decided to redo my resume with some up to date information and better formatting. I tried OpenOffice but then remembered my eyes will fall out if I use the thing for too long thanks to its nonsensical choice of user interface toolkit. More fairly, I like OpenOffice for its huge range of features, but am not convinced by the MS Office feel. Really convoluted madness there.
Started off with a new document in Abiword, where most of the document was based around a table. Went fairly well. Some early warning signs when I was having trouble selecting some paragraphs in the document to change their font style, instead needing to select them individually rather than by bulk. I was having a heck of a time getting these settings to stick.
Next was a table inside a table for the sake of easily dividing a column into two. (Turns out AbiWord actually does pretty nicely with tables and I could have split the cell cleanly with Add Column). That table was nudged down by a line break above it that, no matter what I tried, would not leave. Decided to delete that table. Did so, then saved, then exited to see if restarting the program made a difference. It did: The document no longer opens, with AbiWord telling me that the document is invalid! Backup file is also broken. Joy!
Odd discovery: OpenOffice, which is known to bring back the dead, imports all kinds of proprietary reverse-engineered formats, but not abiword format. There is undoubtedly a plugin out there, but it was rather surprising to me.
These various glitches are not an uncommon experience for me with any word processors. I always encounter problems with inexplicable line breaks and fonts that do not stick. (Unselectable paragraphs are a new one). AbiWord has actually worked great for me before since it is nicely integrated with the desktop, quick and generally quite tidy in design. A shame that it started acting up here.
I had the same experience to follow with Google Documents and OpenOffice when I tried redoing the document from scratch again. (Thankfully I had run a test print a while ago).
It was at this point that I realized: I Hate Word Processors.
Is there anything else out there that has sort of sneaked under the radar for not using the same horrendous content + formatting collision we see in modern word processors? I'm willing to bet that is what causes these problems for me. I have heard a little about TeX and it sounds like the sort of design that would do me well... Can you tell me more about it? Perhaps a nice editor for that stuff?
Better yet, do I just type wrong or something, in a way that offends word processors?
By the way, I will be doing the Google and whatnot (okay, enough computer-illiterate-speak); just posting here to get opinions and thoughts that a search engine can't manage :)