[odf-discuss] A Pit Bull in the Mix

[Daniel]

Damon Anderson wrote:
> Now here's the irony. ODF... not going to happen either. Also still too 
> complicated. The only way I'm going to implement ODF is if I can get it 
> simplified down to a maximum of 10 pages that is pure and simple step by 
> step implementation instructions.

Do you just want to produce documents or do you want to read too? If you 
just want to produce documents and you want something simpler than ODF, 
I recommend that you use DocBook and then use the docbook2odf converter 
from Comsultia.

Alternatively we could put together a short 3-5 page tutorial to get 
developers who already know HTML writing very simple ODF files, if all 
you want is headings, paragraphs and lists.

Here is one short tutorial:
-----// Daniel's "Learn ODF in 30 seconds" tutorial //--------
1. Using OpenOffice, create a blank document. This is your template. You 
can use the Stylist to modify the style of headings, paragraphs, etc. 
Save it as "template.odt".

2. Unzip the file in a separate directory. One of the files created is 
content.xml

3. In a new text file, write your document as if it were HTML, using the 
following conversion table 1 at the end of this tutorial.

4. Put your document inside the <office:text> tags in content.xml

5. Zip the file again and voila! You've made your very own ODF file.

TABLE 1: ODF for HTML coders.
   Paragraphs:
     <p> ... </p>
     Becomes...
     <text:p> ... </text:p>

   Headings:
     <h1> ... </h1>
     Becomes...
     <text:h text:style-name="Heading_20_1"> ... </text:h>

     Same for h2, h3, ...

   Lists:
     <ul> ... </ul>
     Becomes...
     <text:list text:style-name="L1"> ... </text:list>

     <ol> ... </ol>
     Becomes...
     <text:list text:style-name="L2"> ... </text:list>

     <li> ... </li>
     Becomes...
     <text:list-item> <text:p> ... </text:p> </text:list-item>

   Tables:
     <table> ... </table>
     Becomes...
     <table:table> ... </table:table>

     <tr> ... </tr>
     Becomes...
     <table:table-row> ... </table:table-row>

     <td> ... </td>
     Becomes...
     <table:table-cell> <text:p> ... </text:p> </table:table-cell>
-----// END Tutorial //--------

> Hmm... Why bother with ODF when I can simple 
> XHTML and CSS and get 99% of all the functionality I need?

Indeed. If HTML meets your needs, go for it. It's simpler and better 
supported. But also consider DocBook, or something like the tutorial 
above. I certainly don't recommend doing anything more complex than you 
need.

> You see I think ODF is the right answer for the wrong question. ODF is a 
> common office format, which is great. Woo hoo. What we programmers are 
> looking for, though, is a common format that is simple and easy to 
> implement that GOES TO all other formats.

I am a programmer. I consider ODF fairly easy to implement, especially 
if you consider what it accomplishes. ODF also lends itself to being 
transformed. For example, the ODF viewer works by converting ODF to HTML 
and giving the result to an off-the-shelf HTML engine.

> This is why I say all hail XHTML CSS (and maybe a little XSLFO thrown 
> in). If only Silk was easier to implement. sigh... more comlicated 
> documentation.

Good luck with XSLFO.

Cheers,
Daniel.