The World of Layonara
The Layonara Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: Witch Hunter on March 19, 2007, 05:10:45 PM
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Well it seems we're still having lots of problems with transfering posts from word to the fourms and the team is loaded with work, so, yesterday Orth suggested me to use Open Office, infact, he suggested we all use it :rolleyes:
So heres a link: OpenOffice.org: Home (http://www.openoffice.org/)
Go download, it's free, it's spiffy and all that hazzle dazzle, and best of all... It doesn't seem to be as troublesome as word, cheers.
It has all the spell-checking and neat features too... really, go download it!
Many thanks Orth for introducing me to that program by the way:D
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Yeah OO! I've been using that on and off for years! Go freeware!
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The problem is converting from MSWord to the forums?
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Yap yap! it changes characters like "..." into it's own special thingy where the three dots are connected and it also has some alternative forms for "-" and stuff... so the fourm erases it and does some whacky wizzle.
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Yes. And with OpenOffice, it's easier to turn off all of those auto-correct bells and whistles that the PC and Mac versions of Word pile on. Those auto-correct deelies are what's messing with posts.
Though I just use a Firefox extension for my spellchecker. I keep forgetting that definite isn't spelled definate.
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Are things from MSWord compatible with Open Office? I have a ton of documents that are formatted for MS Word and don't want to lose them.
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OpenOffice works with everything Word does, and quite a few more types, as well.
Not to mention it'll completely replace your Microsoft Office package... It comes with spreadsheet software, powerpoint stuff, document, and even a little drawing program that I haven't figured out yet.
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I'm using it now. So far so good.
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OpenOffice is the free version of Star Office. :D
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Star Office scares me. They use it at my mom's school district and it is HORRIBLE.
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Only if you don't know how to use it.
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As just one more vote of confidence, I'm writing a paper using OpenOffice right now.
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In my opinion, the problem is that we shouldn't be asking users to use differnet software in order to accomodate a forum or website. People should be able to use what they want and we should work around the problems that come up--when there are enough problems and it works well with the manpower spent on it.
However...we have no income and we do this in our spare time and we are using vbulletin of which we don't have the source code....and I could go on and on....So for now we do what we can do with what we have and the time we have. If I had my preference though we would provide a solution for the players that didn't "require" them to change software packages on their end.
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um... I do believe Open Office was offered as a suggestion...
If I need to be blunt, maginify the quote (if it needs it):
[size=0]...Orth suggested ... Open Office, infact, he suggested we all use it...
[/size]
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For you Mac users get neooffice
NeoOffice Home (http://download.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php)
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As an alternative to actually upgrading OpenOffice, if you are using MS Word, simply turn off the SmartQuotes and AutoCorrect features that change single quotes, double quotes, dashes and ellipses. I believe this can be accessed through Tools - Options or something similar. Somone with word might be able to help and point out where that feature is.
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Okay....help me out folks.
I've got OpenOffice....and documents I wrote on MSWord or Notepad, I've copied and pasted onto OpenOffice....saved it, and then tried copying and pasting from OpenOffice to the Forums....but it don't work, it's still cutting out most of the words.
Where am I going wrong?
( MSWord I have at work, and have already E-mailed myself most of the documents and deleted them from the work computer, so going back and turning off the Spellchecks on MSword wont work as I'd have to type it all up again )
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If I sound strange and all, pardon me, but why do you need an external program to write posts on the forums in the first place? I'm puzzled.
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I write things on Microsoft Word or Notepad....and then usually copy and paste the whole thing onto the Forum. But due to some formatting issue....it cuts words off....ie " ! ...
So I've been advised to use OpenOffice, then cut and paste from there....but is still dont work. A document some 4 pages long on Microsoft Word is only showing as one paragraph long on the Forums....and Im really too lazy to type it all up in this little message box. :)
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Okay....help me out folks.
I've got OpenOffice....and documents I wrote on MSWord or Notepad, I've copied and pasted onto OpenOffice....saved it, and then tried copying and pasting from OpenOffice to the Forums....but it don't work, it's still cutting out most of the words.
Where am I going wrong?
( MSWord I have at work, and have already E-mailed myself most of the documents and deleted them from the work computer, so going back and turning off the Spellchecks on MSword wont work as I'd have to type it all up again )
It seems to me that when you copied and pasted out of Word and into OO.o (or just opened up the .doc in OO.o) it's keeping the funky characters Word puts in there. Try saving the .doc as a .txt and then opening that up in OO.o and re-format it if need be. The suggestion I believe was to use OO.o from the get-go rather than to copy/paste/opening from Word. Notepad on the other hand should have no such problems which is sort of confusing me if that is indeed the case.
If I sound strange and all, pardon me, but why do you need an external program to write posts on the forums in the first place? I'm puzzled.
While you and I may not use external apps, some folks like to do their work in something with a spelling/grammer checker. Personally, FireFox with the Google toolbar (which has a spellchecker) works just fine for me. Though I do recall a period when the old-old forums would eat posts from time-to-time however, if that is still happening I would seriously be surprised.
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"....Notepad on the other hand should have no such problems which is sort of confusing me if that is indeed the case....."
Yeah, I agree it shouldn't but it does. I used to be able to type something in MS Word then copy/paste it in to Notepad then copy that notepad text and put in in to a post (at the old forum). It would keep the formatting and cut out the junk that MS Word puts in to it. That is how it worked at the old forums. Now I can not use Word at all as that trick does not work at these forums. For whatever reason these forums are far too picky about things and text just gets lost, even after copy/pasting in to notepad and then back out of notepad in to a post. I know there isn't much you guys can do but I just want to make sure everybody knows that it no longer works that way with these forums. Which means we have to use some outside product which kind of sucks heh.
I tend to make lengthy posts in replies to people and I know a lot of people use outside editors because of our character submission rules (requiring details). Many even use them when they want to rant on us and are creating a lenghty reply. I think that is the problem we are running in to here, we actually have people using these external editors because of post lengths and they are more than normal.
Like this post here, it is plain jane and a quick reply so I am not using an editor but I would bet about 30% of the time I do.
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Isn't it possible to add all the characters word uses to the fourm?
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@Witch Hunter,
Possible? Yeah, probably.
Do we have the manpower and time to do it? That is the real question. These guys are doing FAR FAR more than just forum stuff--I could go down a huge list of "responsibilities" that they have every day, day in and day out.
It is not as simple as you stated. I am quite sure they will do the best that they can with the time and manpower they have. But yes, I think that is the eventual goal.
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Isn't it possible to add all the characters word uses to the fourm?
I am not trying to come off as snarky here, but if it was just possible don't you think I would have simply done it? The fun realms of utf8, win-1252, mysql and php are not as trivial as one may think. I've spent quite a lot of hours on trying to support this to no avail.
The easiest way for this problem to be solved is for you the user to take a little time to change your habits. Either install OpenOffice as suggested here or disable SmartQuotes in your Word Processor.
Here's an article that is somewhat related though it's referring to newsletters.
Microsoft Word Smart Quotes and Article Marketers Don't Mix (http://ezinearticles.com/?Microsoft-Word-Smart-Quotes-and-Article-Marketers-Dont-Mix&id=15624)
-orth
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Woah woah woah... I didn't mean that as a demand rather as a question - It's not like I asked it to be done in the next few days mind you.
The easiest way for this problem to be solved is for you the user to take a little time to change your habits. Either install OpenOffice as suggested here or disable SmartQuotes in your Word Processor.
*points to the thread he made* :P
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Woah woah woah... I didn't mean that as a demand rather as a question - It's not like I asked it to be done in the next few days mind you.
*points to the thread he made* :P
I understand it wasn't a demand Witch, I just wanted it to be known that the complexities behind this were more then just clicking a box "Allow crazy Word characters" And yes I appreciate the thread and just wanted to reiterate my point to the community, not to you.
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(: no harm done
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In Dante's Inferno character encoding is it's own layer of hell.
Edit: I'm a fan of open office as well and not just because it's free, but that sure doesn't hurt. I find that when I use word I spend most of my time fighting with auto-bullets, auto-correct, auto-replace... ad nauseum. In OO it's easier to turn these things of for your section, document or permanantly (and they actually stay off rather than turning on again as soon as they feel like it.)
I reccomend Open Office to people at work (IT at the college I'm taking classes at.)
I also carry it around on my flash drive on campus when I'm going from lab computer to work computer to classroom computer. I like having it with me because it keeps my work environment consistent regardless of the fact that I've used 7 different computers in a day (running windows from 2000 to vista.)
For an absolutely painless portable install of open office for flash drives check out PortableApps.com - Portable software for USB drives | Your Digital Life, Anywhere™ (http://www.portableapps.com)
Other stuff I have on my flashdrive from that site and others:
xChat - chat from wherever)
Firefox - I always have my bookmarks and encrypted passwords for sites
Thunderbird - checkkin' da email
CodeBlocks - for programming on the run
FileZilla - FTP client
Gimp - image editing
WinRar - compression/decompression
7Zip - for when winrar isn't enough
MinGW - compiling on the run
MSys - for doing stuff I probably shouldn't be doing on other peoples computers, er, I mean for make support on windows.
Cost of 1gb flashdrive: $20
Value of being able to work efficiently or waste time properly at any computer I'm at: Priceless
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Have I ever told you I love you, Talan? In a totally platonic way. Totally.
I nearly gave away my 1gb little flash drive... No longer.
You are my hero.
On an unrelated(?) note, the new Dells running Linux(!) may end up with OpenOffice instead of MSOffice. Then, perhaps, with the stupid-high costs for all the MS junk gone, you might actually be paying for what you get from Dell (and this is coming from someone who would have previously rather built a computer in a cardboard box than buy a Dell).