Fwd: suggested feature

From: Hubert Figuiere (hub@nyorp.abisource.com)
Date: Wed Mar 20 2002 - 17:45:33 EST

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    From: Praedor Tempus <praedor@yahoo.com>
    To: abiword-user@abisource.com
    Subject: suggested feature
    Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 15:27:18 -0700
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    All linux wordprocessors are indistinguishable from each other as far as
    general capabilities go. Some can export or import more file formats than
    others but beyond that, there is nothing to make any one of them stand apart.

    There is one and ONLY one wordprocessor in linux that is of use to
    scientists, researchers, students and that is Lyx. The reason is that only
    lyx is able to deal with citations and references.

    Word and Wordperfect for windoze and the Mac can do it, via a third party app
    like EndNote which plugs seamlessly into the wordprocessor and allows one,
    via a separate citations/bibliography window, to select references, read the
    abstract for that reference to determine if it is really the one you're
    looking for, and then with a simple click of a button, the citation is
    inserted into the wordprocessor text. At the end, when you are ready to
    print, all you do is select what format you want your references to follow
    and select "Format Bibliography" from an EndNote-added menu item in the Tools
    menu list (in word...don't know about wordperfect) and viola, the citations
    are properly formatted and the reference page(s) are also created and
    formatted for you.

    Lyx can do this with the aid of Pybliographic of Sixpack, which are similar
    in functionality to EndNote. Only Lyx.

    I would like to suggest that this functionality be added to Abiword. Either
    create a pipe ala Lyx so that apps like Pybliographic could be easily made to
    work with Abiword or add this ability to Abiword fully. A wordprocessor with
    a built-in bibliography processing ability - THAT would set it apart from all
    the others. It would be useful for more than letter writing or other
    non-attributed writing. Bah!

    As nice as many of the linux wordprocessors are (I have tried Hancom Office,
    StarOffice, OpenOffice, Kword, Abiword), none of them meet the needs of
    anyone who must write research-based documents. Research papers require
    citations/references. It is barbaric to expect people to MANUALLY enter
    citations and MANUALLY create reference pages. That is SOOOO typewriter.
    Barbarism!
     
    Please bring civilization to a linux-friendly wordprocessor. Lyx is fine,
    such as it is, but it flat-out ISN'T user-friendly. Any clown can fire up
    Word and EndNote and produce publication-quality papers with proper
    attribution. One practically needs a minor in compsci to work with Lyx. Do
    better than that...please.

    praedor

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