Re: [Fwd: OT: Rant]
On Wed, Jan 16, 2002 at 12:29:17PM -0600, Kent West wrote:
| >Kent wrote:
| >>I really miss WordPerfect! And I wish there were some open-source
| >>software that did what it does.
|
| q. wrote:
|
| >The more I use linux, the more i've come to use vi for most of
| >my word processing.
|
| I guess maybe I'm starting from the wrong premise. I'm not trying to do
| word processing; I'm trying to do Desk Top Publishing, to create a
| monthly newsletter, with columns and graphics and drop caps and text
| boxes and etc.
Oh -- you don't want a word processor, you want a desktop publisher!
There is a big difference. To see it, try using MS Word to put
pictures and text exactly where you want it, then do the same with MS
PowerPoint. Newer versions of Word are heading towards DTP, but still
don't do it well. (in fact, I hate Word2k much more than Word6. It
has too many auto-screw-up-the-layout misfeatures)
| From what I've been able to glean over the years, Tex and its
| derivatives may be what I want, but each time I try (over the past three
| years) I just get frustrated and fall back to what I know works (e.g.
| WordPerfect). I've also come to understand that Tex is perfect for
| writing books and doctoral theses, and the like, especially if they have
| fancy mathematical formulas, but that's not the type document I'm trying
| to do.
I don't think LaTeX is particularly well suited for desktop
publishing, unless you have a documentclass style that exactly fit the
layout you want. LaTeX works great if you specify the structure of
the document (and that structure can be expressed in terms of the
standard macros) and you are happy letting it figure out where to
actually put the stuff on the page.
TeX can probably do what you want, but it is lower-level (ie closer to
the metal, or page, I should say) than LaTeX. It probably won't be as
simple to work with, though. ("probably" because I don't know any raw
TeX)
Hmm, say, what about FoilTeX? That is supposed to be well suited for
slides. I haven't gotten to that F{ine}M yet.
| So it's not so much that I miss WordPerfect, as it is that I miss being
| able to accomplish the same tasks that I could in WP.
|
| Surely it's possible, but so far, it's not easy for the average person who
| does DTP in the MS-Windows world to figure out how to do it in the Linux
| world (or at least, it hasn't been easy for me).
Since we now know you aren't looking for a wordprocessor, AbiWord
won't help you. Applixware has a desktop publisher in it, but I don't
know how good it is (I had the demo version for a while, but didn't
use it enough to decide if I liked it). I'm not sure if there is
anything that rivals MS PowerPoint. I'll have to read up on FoilTeX
though.
| Anyway, just ranting; I appreciate everyone's courtesy in not
| flaming me for my OT rant.
It wasn't a bad rant :-). You didn't tell us we are a bunch of jerks
or anything; rather you explained what you were looking for but
couldn't find. That deserves a friendly and informative answer :-).
-D
--
The light of the righteous shines brightly,
but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out.
Proverbs 13:9
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