Advice for a document management system

[Howard Gibson]

On Thu, 05 Feb 2009 13:13:14 -0500
David J Patrick <djp-tnsZcVQxgqO2dHQpreyxbg at public.gmane.org> wrote:

> This one seems like a no-brainer; openoffice.org.
> M$Word users switching to OpenOffice may not even notice, and PDF output 
> is built-in. M$Word user switching to LaTeX will moan and howl and gnash 
> their teeth, cursing whoever made them use this *^%%$*%^ thing. (yes, 
> LeTeX or Lyx is a superior publishing solution, but it demands a new 
> metaphor; WYSIWYM vs. WYSIWYG) OO.o will also happily spit out .html. As 
> a bonus, Word <---> OO.o conversions are 95% seamless (although your 
> complicated documents may get somewhat mangled.
> djp

David,

   Actually, users will notice.  Open Office uses different line spacing than Word.  If the user uses page breaks to format their documents, the conversion between Word and Open Office will be a mess.

   I am starting to write an article on style sheets, but I have not gotten very far.  The style sheets of both Word and Open Office are powerful, but counterintuitive.  Few people understand them.  If you use them, conversions are seamless.

   Implementing Open Office, and training people on stylesheets is still a good option.  It will cut down the complaints that will occur with LaTeX, and the skill will port nicely to MS Word.

-- 
Howard Gibson 
hgibson-MwcKTmeKVNQ at public.gmane.org
howardg-PadmjKOQAFn3fQ9qLvQP4Q at public.gmane.org 
http://home.eol.ca/~hgibson
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