OpenOffice.org Writer

Rating:
Summary: No fluff, and plenty of content...
Review: If you're ready to make a serious attempt at moving your word processing needs off of Microsoft Word, check out OpenOffice.org Writer - The Free Alternative to Microsoft Word by Jean Hollis Weber (O'Reilly). This is a no-fluff how-to book that will help you figure out how to work with Writer.

Chapter list: Setting Up Writer to Work Your Way; Writing, Editing, and Reviewing Documents; Controlling Page Layout; Using Templates and Styles Effectively; Getting the Most from Fields; Tables of Contents, Indexes, and Bibliographies; Working with Large or Complex Documents; Working with Graphics in Writer; Miscellaneous Tips and Tricks; Moving from Microsoft Word; Index

This is one of those books that falls outside the normal expectations for tech books. It's published by O'Reilly Community Press, which is described this way:

Unlike classic O'Reilly animal books, O'Reilly's role in the series is limited to providing manufacturing and distribution services rather than editorial development, so that each Community Press title reflects the editorial voice and organization of the community that has created it.

As a result, it doesn't have the same polish and finish as what you'd expect from an O'Reilly title. But don't let that deter you from the excellent content contained within. There's a three page preface stating the target audience, conventions in font, and all the other standard preface stuff. After that, it's all practical content on how to do specific tasks in Writer. The target audience is for intermediate to advanced users, so if you're competent around Word, you'll quickly catch on to what steps are required to produce the same time of reports you normally create in Word. And if you're just getting exposed to Writer, you'll be amazed at how much power you'll have at your fingertips. And of course, free is a very good price.

The other thing I appreciate about the book is the section on converting to and from Word documents. That's obviously the biggest concern since Word is nearly a standard in the business place. The author doesn't try to gloss over and hype the conversion process. Some things (simple documents) will convert with no problems at all. Other more complex documents may not convert well at all. This could lead to some manual tweaking once the document has been moved to the other platform. But still, you get a good idea as to what you're up against.

No fluff, plenty of meat, and highly practical... A definite winner.

Rating:
Summary: More than a Word replacement - it plays well with others
Review: OpenOffice.org is the Open Source competitor to the Microsoft Office suite. Part of the suite, OpenOffice.org Writer is the word processor component and the only one covered in this book. The book does include a CD-ROM with a copy of OpenOffice.org for various operating systems including Linux, Mac, Solaris, and Windows. This book is a thorough introduction to the Writer software and includes configuration, writing, editing, review, page layout, templates, styles, fields, table of contents, indexes, bibliographies, and working with graphics. Basically, just about everything that you are likely to use in a business environment is covered. Some things are easier done in OpenOffice than in Word, and some are easier in Word. I did find that after spending about an hour with the software I was able to do everything I normally do in Word plus create a much more efficient interface to merge data from a dbase file into a template for a mail merge. I was a pleasure working with a product that interfaced well with other programs, something Microsoft products are not generally known for doing well, if at all. My experience with the software was very positive and the book a tremendous help at greatly lowering the learning curve. OpenOffice.org Writer is a highly recommended book for anyone thinking about looking at this product as an alternative to Microsoft Office.

Rating:
Summary: Nicely Done
Review: The author has done a superb job of explaining how to use OpenOffice.org Writer to get the job of Word Processing done. Clear, concise explanations are combined with plentiful screen shots, guaranteeing a rewarding experience for the reader looking for an intelligent answer on how to accomplish a task in Writer. This book is not a reference manual, per-se, but it can be used as such - the index is more than adequate for such a purpose.

The only criticism that I have is that it is too short. I read the book in about two hours and was left wanting more. At a little over 200 pages, it is still amazing how much information that the author covers:

* Writer Customization
* Using Writer to create and edit documents
* Formatting
* Templates and Styles
* Fields
* Indexes, Table of Contents, Bibliographies
* Master Documents, Footnotes, Endnotes
* Graphics
* Cool Tricks - PDF, Docbook XML, Hyperlinking
* The Migration from Word to Writer

I highly recommend this book for readers that have recently begun to use Writer, are considering using Writer or who are just plain curious what all the hubub is about.

Rating:
Summary: All you have to know about OpenOffice
Review: This is a well written and organized book that covers all of the essentials of Writer. You won't find information about how to write well, or organize your document effectively. This has a manual style, loaded (but not overwhelmed) with screenshots, which covers all of the functions of the application.

I've read (or looked over) a lot of books on Microsoft Word. I find the book a lot more pleasing. It doesn't treat you like an idiot. It understands that the common case is that you understand the basics of the application and you are just looking for how to do one particular thing.

I recommend this book for anyone using Writer.