Re: about to tear my hair out

On Mon, 17 Apr 2006 soaring@surfglobal.net wrote:

> Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2006 20:15:44 -0400
> From: soaring@surfglobal.net
> To: abiword-user@abisource.com
> Subject: about to tear my hair out
>
>
> Hi,
>
> Have to say I'm not very happy with Abiword over-all. Try using the 2

Flattery will get you everywhere!*

[I dont have a copy of Abiword to hand and I'm providing the followign
answer from memory but if I make a mistake I'm sure the developers will
correct me]

> or 3 column option for a document! Instead of automatically moving its
> cursor over to the start of the next column, the user has to MANUALLY

> TAB over to the 2nd or 3rd column whichever it may be, after _each_
> previous line of text! Pretty time consuming and ridiculous. The
> cursor should automatically move over to the start of the next column
> after each line of text entered-- don't you agree?

I think you misunderstand how columns work, and for better or worse
Abiword is following the precedent of Microsoft word on this.

Columns are not designed || to work like this || you must understand

and I think that is something like what you were expecting.

Columns are designed || Hope this makes
to work like || things a little
this you must understand || clearer

Columns do not wrap until the text fills the full vertical lenght of the
column down to the bottom of the page and then it starts from the top of
the next column.

If you use Insert Break, Column break you can force the first behavour.
(If you are really serious about page layout you need Desktop publishing
software not a Word processor.)

> There are many other flaws in the software I don't have time to go into
> now.

Abiword is developed entirely by volunteers in their own spare time
without any funding, and I only bother to answer questions to show my
appreciation to the developers and allow them to focus on development.
You might want to read this to put it in perspective:
http://www.abisource.com/support/expectations.phtml

Having said that we know there are many problems in abiword as you can see
from our bug tracker http://bugzilla.gnome.org but the difference is
anyone can help out. if you can provide detailed information about the
bugs you have found (and quickly check they aren't duplicates) we can do
something about it together.

> It also gets tired very quickly as the text begins to 'fade' from
> view --- my memory should be adequate to run the program without it's
> doing that!

Are you saying your typing is faster than the display can keep up with?
That kind of lag should not be happening.

> Will try to find a different program to use than AbiWord

Um, what kind of reaction were you expecting to that statement?

> ---- think its developers ought to fix a lot;

I hope the support expectations document puts things into perspective and
you will reconsider your comments. the abiword developers do an excellent
job and provide excellent value for money.

> how could they have overlooked so much?

Abiword is not ideal for everyone but many people find it fast and
comfortabe and it does the things they really want to do.

OpenOffice.org might be more to your liking or possibly skip word
processing and use Scribus which gives you the full power of Desktop
publishing and much more control of Page Layout which you seem to be
intertested in.

> It's quite aggravating to use.

I'm sorry abiword wasn't right for you. I hope you will trying using it
for a while longer or try it again in future before giving up completely.

Best of luck, hope you find the right software for what you need

Sincerely

Alan Horkan

* (Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit but still wit.)
-----------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to
abiword-user-request@abisource.com with the word
unsubscribe in the message body.
Received on Tue Apr 18 02:55:08 2006