Re: ambitions of Abi-word

Alan Horkan wrote:

>On Sun, 20 Nov 2005, Custodis wrote:
>
>
>
>>Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2005 08:10:00 +0100
>>From: Custodis <Custodis@zonnet.nl>
>>Cc: abiword-user@abisource.com
>>Subject: Re: ambitions of Abi-word
>>
>>
>>Hi all,
>>
>>I would like to add:
>>
>>
>
>Keep in mind some or all of these feature might never happen, but when
>Martin expresses intrest in a feature he probably intends working towards
>it himself.
>
>
>
I know Alan. And if Marin decides otherwise, that's fine to. His idears
still keep there value for others.

>>15. Scripting with good handlers and user forms
>>
>>
>
>scripting is something which I suppose has always been planned but always
>deferred as a very long term goal.
>
>
>
Would be greath! A long term goal seems logical, it's hard to implement.

>>16. Mail merge with Gnumeric
>>
>>
>
>I strongly encourage you to try using Abiword Gnumeric and the GDA plugin
>on Linux for a much better and more integrated experience. This existence
>of this clean method means there is not as much incentive to make things
>work directly between Gnumeric and Abiword but it might still happen
>
>
I've a laptop. The powerhandeling of Linux isn't greath. So I stoped
using it. Back to Windows I'm afraid...

>
>
>>and a good user interfase to filter data from a specific map in Gnumeric
>>
>>
>
>Good interface can be very subjective but also if you are willing to
>make an effort you can make things clearer by creating a bug
>report, providing detailed descriptions including screenshots mockups and
>whatever else is needed. At least that way if a developer is interested
>in implementing the feature they do not have to do quite so much guesswork
>figuring out what is needed.
>
>
I'm very impressed by the user interface of MS Word (sorry MS haters :)
) I could make screenshots of this, if it realy helps. (It seems to me
it doesn't add mutch, for I suppose they are familiar with it.) I would
also be verry willing to give direct feedback to a developer that wants
to develope this feature.

>
>
>>17. Past data from Gnumeric into Abi and past links to a specific cell
>>into Abi
>>
>>
>
>There have been improvements to cut and paste of tables from Gnumeric to
>abiword and if you make very specific requests there is better chance of
>developers making those incremental improvements.
>
>I'm not sure what the current state of embedding Gnumeric documents
>directly in abiword is so the sistuation may be better than you realise.
>
>
>
Yes, it's possible to copy cels from Gnumeric into Abi. But not into a
table (or all Gnumeric cels ends up in one Abi table cel). Copying a
life link from Gnumeric into Abi isn't possible.

>>18. Better support for large documents
>>
>>
>
>This is very vague and hard to pin down but Martin has already mentioned
>there are plans to improve various things which should contribute to this
>end result.
>
>
I'm very happy with Maritins plans. I'm looking forward to them.

>
>
>>19. User interfase for changing the default document format
>>
>>
>
>I want to go on record strongly against this but I expect no one would
>want to implement it anyway. We do not want people to do this, we need to
>make sure people understand the implications of what they are doing if
>they decided to change the default format. Requiring users be
>knowledgeble enough to edit a configuration file themselves is in effect a
>safety measure, putting a potentially dangerous feature out of harms way
>(data loss is a serious risk).
>
>
>
If the risk of data loss is that big, than I have to agree with you. I
was unter the impression that the .ZABW format type wouldn't be a big
problem.

>>20. Encrypting documents
>>
>>
>
>What do you have in mind? This is an interesting problem because there is
>strong cryptographic encrypition which is best done by using PGP to
>encrypt the whole document when it is finished. Then there are simple
>insecure methods for marking documents as read only but these can always
>be bypassed (any cryptography can be bypassed if you have enough time and
>resources) so we need to undo the perception this is actual "security"
>as opposed to a recommendation from the author.
>
>
Of course a user can encrypt a document f.i. by using truecrypt ore
something. It would be nice if Abi would support it (like very other
word processer I know).

>I'd be fairly surprised if there wasn't already a bug report requesting
>something similar for most of what you have mentioned.
>
>
I'm not trying to be origionally Alan. I would like to encorage a brain
wrighting session, like I mentioned. Collect all (old and new) idears.
Catogorise them. And perhabs sorting them from 'soon' to 'some day'.
(Without obigations to programmers or users at all). When programmers
are willing to ad there names to some idaers, it would give a good
insite in what is happening today and give some impression where Abi is
going to when there would be no limitations in the number of
programmers. Whit limited time and effort a roadmap would be born. If
people want it of course...it's worth trying. If nothing happens than, I
suppose, it's clear it's not wanted. We'll see.

Rob

>- Alan
>
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Received on Sun Nov 20 18:39:15 2005