Google Docs drops the ball in two ways
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| Steven_Rosenber Jun 29, 2007 8:35 PM EDT |
First, you can't print without changing your browser settings so the URL and date don't show up as headers and footers -- there needs to be a downloadable helper app to take care of printing, and second, it's yet another so-called word processor without the option for typographical or "smart" quotes. The Web does fine with straight quotes, but for printed documents -- in newspapers, magazines, even in personal and business correspondence, typographical quotes are a must. Other than that, Google Docs is pretty amazing -- you can download versions of your docs in MS Word doc format, RTF, ODT, PDF and HTML. There are differences between a text editor, an HTML editor and a word processor. And Google Docs isn't the only app to forget that. |
| Sander_Marechal Jun 29, 2007 11:20 PM EDT |
Quoting:it's yet another so-called word processor without the option for typographical or "smart" quotes I hate smart quotes because half the time I actually want a regular quote. I always enter the quote I want manually -- on the internet too. A website just looks much more professional if you use proper typography. Edit: Not that I am much of a typographist (is that a word?), but I try! |
| Scott_Ruecker Jun 30, 2007 12:27 AM EDT |
Quoting:There are differences between a text editor, an HTML editor and a word processor. And Google Docs isn't the only app to forget that. Your right about that but considering that these programs are aimed at the casual user and IMO still deep in Beta as far as what you and I would probably consider enough "functionality" to make us switch to using them, they are not to shabby. Really good Text and HTML editors abound (SeaMonkey as an obvious example) and besides, those who use them for a living are extremely finicky about which ones they like as it is because of their peculiar wants and needs. For basic documents and notes it is easy enough to satisfy most people but for even semi-serious online publishing and/or professional correspondence like you mention? not yet. Then again I do not know what their future plans are, or if they are even looking for it to be able to do those things. |
| Steven_Rosenber Jul 02, 2007 11:39 AM EDT |
Sander, I agree that when you don't want smart quotes, they're a big pain in the ass. But the same's true when you do want them. The key is making it switchable. I just installed Open Office 2.2 on my Windows XP and Puppy Linux setups solely because I need to do typographical quotes. I'd love to see AbiWord add this feature (I know they had it some time in the past but abandoned it for reasons unclear to me). If I could get typographical quotes in Abi, I'd be absolutely pig-in-shit happy and never use anything else. |
| Sander_Marechal Jul 02, 2007 12:08 PM EDT |
Quoting:But the same's true when you do want them. True. But I find it easier to add them manually than it is to remove them manually. Especially when writing HTML. But stuff like this is where true word processors like Lyx/LaTeX really shine. It's just too bad that they are so bad at doing other things I need in my documents (e.g. try putting a table next to an image). |
| Steven_Rosenber Jul 02, 2007 2:39 PM EDT |
I once had an editor who only worked with MS Word .doc files, and if the "smart" quotes weren't exactly right, they stayed that way in print. Hence my attention to that kind of detail. At the Los Angeles Daily News, our editorial front-end system (Unisys Hermes) does "smart" quotes the MS Word way, but when you send copy into the system, you can send "straight" quotes, and the system tries to figure out how to "smarten" them up, yielding a 90 percent success rate (with 10 percent corrrected by the rest of us). |
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