Path: csiph.com!usenet.pasdenom.info!goblin2!goblin.stu.neva.ru!newsfeed.xs4all.nl!newsfeed4.news.xs4all.nl!xs4all!post.news.xs4all.nl!not-for-mail
Date: Tue, 07 Jan 2014 10:10:04 -0700
From: Michael Torrie <torriem@gmail.com>
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:10.0.12) Gecko/20130105 Thunderbird/10.0.12
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: python-list@python.org
Subject: Re: [way OT] Migrating from non-free programs to LibreOffice
References: <lablra$1mc$2@ger.gmane.org> <labmaj$8u2$1@ger.gmane.org> <CAPTjJmo9gPbyfd5NAmrj=4-tD17i=F5y4+QoTjs9+iawkqSmKA@mail.gmail.com> <7wfvp2gg6v.fsf_-_@benfinney.id.au> <mailman.4990.1388967790.18130.python-list@python.org> <laejim$qmo$2@reader1.panix.com> <52CC2F0F.8040703@gmail.com> <CAPTjJmrn5R7tJ+Sjwhnk2VCcN90SMCoz4fq3PSgy-a8J+PMgEQ@mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <CAPTjJmrn5R7tJ+Sjwhnk2VCcN90SMCoz4fq3PSgy-a8J+PMgEQ@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Precedence: list
Newsgroups: comp.lang.python
Message-ID: <mailman.5142.1389114633.18130.python-list@python.org>
Lines: 44
NNTP-Posting-Host: 2001:888:2000:d::a6
Xref: csiph.com comp.lang.python:63440

On 01/07/2014 09:58 AM, Chris Angelico wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 8, 2014 at 3:45 AM, Michael Torrie <torriem@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I tend to add my own [styles]
>> for quotes, captions, etc.  After composing the document,
>> then you modify the styles to set the spacings, fonts, indentations,
>> border lines, etc.  The workflow is very similar to using LyX, or even a
>> plain markup language for that matter.
> 
> That's all very well when you put everything into a single file, but
> how do you manage those styles across a multi-file book? Mum's project
> was partially rescued by the discovery that you can import styles from
> another document, but that's still unworkable for repeated edits.

Sorry should have been clearer on this. I do use multiple documents with
LO with a master document.  The table of contents can even be generated
across documents.  I believe my TOC is in my master document, along with
the front matter.

As for styles, basically you create a master template style that you use
as a basis for each of your files (master document as well as the
subdocuments).  I make all my changes to the master template style and
then when I open the various documents LO will update the templates.
They aren't linked templates per se; they are copied. But the mechanism
works okay, if a bit clunky.

> 
>> The weakest part of LibreOffice is embedding images.
> 
> And that's why this particular book is being divided up: it's full of
> images. Putting the whole thing into a single file makes that file way
> way too big to work with (at least on the computer Mum's using - it's
> X times larger than her installed RAM, so Writer is constantly
> hammering the page file), and there's no convenient way to read in
> only part of the file. Hence my recommendation of a markup system like
> LaTeX that simply *references* images, and which deliberately isn't
> WYSIWYG; plus, having the concept of content, structure, and style all
> separate means it's not difficult to build just one file - maybe not
> even a whole chapter - while still being confident that all pages
> reference the same styles.

LO does reference images if you would like.  But I find embedding the
whole works is just more self-contained.  And with multiple file
documents the chances of losing data or messing with pagination are
contained to individual sections.