Planetfurry BBS

[anthony]

If the 'editor' doesn't have MS Office, but is using Windows, he should instead use WordPad to edit the files.

[mwalimu]

As a general rule, if you're using the newest, latest version of MS Word, you have to use "Save As..." and save it as one of the older compatibility mode formats if you know it will be read by other people who may not have the latest version of MS Office or who have to use other tools such as Wordpad or OpenOffice.

I'm reminded of a recent story about a teacher who had given his class an assignment that involved creating and turning in a spreadsheet. It turned out he only had Office 2002 while some of his students had Office 2007, and he couldn't read the spreadsheets those students had turned in.

[TwylaFox]

I hate monopolies - hence, my greatest gripe against MicroSpooge. However, it does have the occasional up-side.

Bottom line, ANYONE in an editorial position will have Adobe products, all of which can open PDFs. Even if they use Office, WP, or any other software platform, they'll at least have Acrobat Reader. I use Open Office for prose, Final Draft for screenplays, and various other programs in my variegated writing - and all of them are capable of saving files in the PDF format.

One major plus to PDF (which, I think, contributes to its popularity) is that it precisely preserves all of your formatting. Doesn't matter what computer system (PC vs Mac), operating system (Windows vs *nix), or software platform (MS Office, et al) they're using - they can all open PDFs and the document looks exactly the same on every single one of them.


Though one should always keep in mind - if they tell you (by whatever means) to submit it in a particular file format, do precisely that and nothing but!

[ScottyDM]

I've been able to open .docx files (the newer MS Word format) with Open Office Writer, but sometimes the tables don't work.

Yeah, people don't think. They might have the latest rev of ____ and so they save in native format, then wonder why no one reads their stuff.

PDF is freaking awesome if you're targeting paper and ink. It precisely preserves layout and can even include the author's fonts. But PDF isn't always fun to read on screen. Also, it sucks majorly if you need to extract more than a few words of text.

HTML is a good basis for screen display, as screens come in many sizes. But HTML frustrating for page designers who wish to control all aspects of the reader's experience. ePub (the most popular e-book format) is based on HTML. Sort of HTML in a ZIP-like file with (optional) DRM.

Anyway, MS Word and OO Write can spew HTML, but I haven't tried it* as I prefer the cleaner hand coded approach. It's only a matter of time before they add ePub.

S~

* Okay, just tried it in OO Write. The results have reinforced my decision to keep hand coding HTML.

[Kellan Meig'h]

so, it's been a while since this thread has been added to but I'll put forth my information in the hopes others can benefit.

I'm working on a print novel that threatens to be about 600 pages long. I needed a format that could be sent to an indie POD company so it requires a certain layout.

First try was with a template for LibreOffice that had a bit too many bugs to it. The format wasn't that bad, it was the layout that really tried my patience. The small text boxes for chapter number and chapter title kept moving around on me, driving me nuts. There were other niggling issues that just made me want to pitch my laptop out the window at times.

I then found "Scribus," an open source Adobe InDesign type program that seems to work better. Available for many platforms, it seems to work better but be forewarned , it does have a steep learning curve.

John Osterhout has a template that works for Scribus that can be found HERE. There is a tutorial that goes with it that explains how it works and there are tutorials on Youtube that will walk you through the program.

So far, it's working just fine for me, now that I've had a few days to poke around at it. I would suggest this before trying to use MicroSucks Word to create a book or novel.

One thing John Osterhout emphasizes it the creation of separate sections, such as front matter, chapters and such, saving them as PDF files and combining them at the end. It gives better control over your work as far as look, flow, orphans and widows.

Just my $o.o2 USD worth. YMMV.

[ScottyDM]

Happy to learn there's no such thing as "necro-posting" on PlanetFurry.

Word processors are great for word-processory things, and they also do limited format and layout. But as you pointed out, for books and complex documents an actual layout tool is best. Nice to know about Scribus.

One of the beauties of open source is that if it's popular it'll be available on everything. My switch from Windows to Mac OS-X eight years ago was mostly painless because years earlier I'd switched most of my apps from proprietary to open-source. In fact I stood at the counter in the Apple Store, downloaded, and installed some of my more obscure apps. An Apple salesman walked by and wanted to know what that program was (FreeMind) and took a photo of the screen with his iPhone. My current pain point is CAD, because the open-source stuff is limited, every CAD program is slightly different, and all feature insane learning curves. But I've (foolishly?) fallen in love with Scrivener (no Linux or *BSD versions). Anyway, awesome to see Scribus has Windows, Mac OS-X, many Linux versions, the three major BSDs, and even Solaris.

I'll have to get a copy of Scribus and play with it.

[Kellan Meig'h]