Subject: Re: Export Word -> save as RTF .doc?
From: Ron Ross (ronross@colba.net)
Date: Mon Apr 30 2001 - 16:07:30 CDT
"Dom Lachowicz" <cinamod@hotmail.com> writes:
> >Jesper
> >
> >Im certain i suggested this previously but it was decided that Abiword
> >was going to do it the right way or not at all, i think its Dom's call
> >really.
>
> Thank you. Yes, IMNSHO Abi should either do things correctly or not at all.
I agree. Besides, working as a translator, having to constantly deal
with file format issues, and generally producing RTF files from an
SGML-DSSSL process, I once experimented with simply renaming files as
Jesper suggested -- to circumvent tedious explanations about what RTF
was (!) and even of the tremendously advanced technique of opening files
through the File=>Open dialog and specifying file types to look for
rather than by double-clicking the file icon --, and it sometimes didn't
work. I can't recall exactly what the problem was, but I think the
recipient was working on the MAC platform - probably a missing resource
fork issue.
Better do it honestly and either produce a valid Word document or
deliver RTF and explain this format and its merits to the many "church
secretaries" out there. In my experience, the MAC platform has been
especially successful at maintaining user-ignorance at an all-time high.
As the epitome of the "It Just Works" platform, the MAC OS may require
more extensive usability testing in the forthcoming Mac port of AW.
> >Perhaps it would be appropriate to add this information and an
> >explaination to the help documentation (sorry, but im not volunteering)
>
> I really like this suggestion. Saving as RTF when we select "Save as
> .DOC" is a bad idea. I've got some free time this week and I was
> planning on trying to get the DOC exporter to work a bit more. People
> are strongly encouraged to help.
I'm not a programmer and the amount of free time I have will vary
tremendously (it's a tad low right now), but if you need people to
compile in the experimental exporter (with instructions;-) and test it,
count me among them. I (as many others) am very keen on the Word
import/export feature.
Further queries:
Fast-saved word documents: is AW (wv) supposed to be capable of
reading such files? Files I received recently were unreadable by
either AW or WordPerfect8 on Linux (although WP, and Word of course,
had no trouble opening them up in Windows). QuarkXpress (an old 3.2)
for Windows also could not open them and popped up a message about
their probably being fast-saved. I finally downloaded and installed
StarOffice 5.2 for Linux (trying to reduce its bloat as much as
possible), which _did_ read the files (_almost_ perfectly).
MAC (Word) files: what prospect is there of opening MAC files
(especially Word documents) in AW on other platforms?
Sorry for the lengthy post. Feel free to fork this thread if responses
warrant it. I'm in the process, once again, of reassessing my file
sharing and production options, as I have to deliver documents to
graphic designers (on Quark, MAC). On my dual-boot Win-Linux machine,
I would like to avoid having to reboot just to convert fairly simple
documents.
Ron
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