Reveal code, old macros convert them to LO

[Wols Lists]

On 06/07/19 07:36, Uwe Brauer wrote:
> 
>> On 05/07/19 13:14, Uwe Brauer wrote:
> 
>> And all I am saying is that the feature you describe sounds to me
>> NOTHING LIKE reveal codes, and personally I can't see any use for it.
>> The Word equivalent is "show formatting" which - like I said - was
>> ignored by lusers and power users alike because they couldn't see any
>> use for it.
> 
> My motivation was partiall caused by a MS Word document, which I had to
> edit and the mark up was distorted by LO (most likely this file was
> written 15 ago and then saved in different formats). So I hoped a reveal
> code feature would help to understand what is the problem and where.

Sonething I heard years ago when comparing Word and WordPerfect ... when
working with Word, what you're supposed to do is type the text in, then
go back and format it. When working with WordPerfect, you're supposed to
hint to the program what the text is (sounds like styles to me), and let
WordPerfect format it for you.

So if you've got a Word document giving you grief, sounds like the best
thing is to "save as text", and then just start again with the layout.
> 
>> Do you know lilypond and frescobaldi? 
> 
> I am using LaTeX on a daily basis (with GNU Emacs) and use LO and
> friends only on certain occasions. So you don't have to convince me on that.
> 
I'd rather use a modern word processor (so I can share documents with
lusers) that doesn't force me to work in "luser mode". That was why
WordPerfect doubled its market share in the early 90s (20% to 40% in
about 3 years) before MS pulled its dirty tricks campaign and killed it.

An example of the difference between the two companies ... users wanted
labels. The WordPerfect guys said "what actually is the functionality
here - users want a *logical* page which is a label, and lots of them on
a *physical* page which is your Avery sheet. So that's what they did,
they separated the physical from the logical, and provided a
"quick-n-easy" configuration helper so you could just pull in the
correct setting, or create your own. Next minute, people were using this
to create A5 logical pages on A4 physical and printing off booklets. MS
created a labels wizard, and then then created a booklet wizard (both of
which I hate, because they are luser tools that force me to do what MS
thinks I want rather than what I think I want). Okay, WordPerfect then
created a booklet wizard that took all the printing hassle away, but the
difference is that WP *helped* you, while MS said "this is the way you
have to do it".

Plus I'm a *text* guy. MS is very much a *visual* company (as are most
people, actually). So the MS way of doing things is alien to me - the WP
way of "here's a gui, this drops into the text setup behind it" is just
*so* *easy*.

Another little thing (that illustrates this) is "hidden text". MS
thought they would add the "comments" feature, but yet again it's a pale
imitation that is a *useless* copy. Keeping a quiz sheet and an answer
sheet in sync is a pain in the neck, isn't it? Not in WordPerfect it
isn't!!! You just create your answer sheet, adding the attribute "hidden
text" to all your answers - just like the attributes "bold" or "italic"
or whatever. And in the "View" menu is a check-box "show hidden text".
If that's ticked, all the hidden text behaves exactly like normal text.
If it's unticked, it all disappears into a markup box. So you just print
the same document twice, once in each mode, and there's your quiz sheet
you hand out, and your answer sheet for you to give them out at the end.
I'd LOVE to have that in LO, too. But without reveal codes, how are you
going to get it to work? Because how are you going to show hidden text
in your wysiwyg window because if the box isn't ticked there's nowhere
to show it?

I use Writer because I hate it less than Word. But both of them share
the same visual outlook on life, which I want to get away from ...

Cheers,
Wol