rthorm@cornellbox.com writes:
> I'm not sure what benefit we would get from RTF.
I can think of several reasons to use a proper word processor
for this project:
1) Tables. Rolegames have lots of tables, and creating and
manipulating tables in a word pro is much much easier than in
plain text.
2) Cross references. DQ is *littered* with cross-references;
having a word processor take care of this for you is *far
easier* than trying to manage cross references by hand.
3) Auto-numbering, especially with section numbering. Trying to
keep numbering consistent by hand in long documents is
devilishly difficult, especially if you have more than one
person working on the project. Using a word-processor that
can handle this for you takes care of a lot of that worry.
4) Building lists of tables, sections. Can be automated with a
word processor.
5) Building indexes. Good word-processors can provide good tools
to help with this and make the job much easier.
6) Some limited amount of formatting actually makes it easier to
work on the document. With visual clues in place (like
different faces and weights used for headings, bullets,
indented text, emphasis, and the like) it's actually easier to
write large documents because these visual clues provide you
with non-"word" context that's valuable for the writer.
7) Automated error checking. Nothing can replace the need for a
good proof-read, but automated spelling and grammar checking
can make it far easier to produce a cleaner first draft.
If what you're worried about is access, then I think Open Office
is an excellent suggested tool -- it has decent features, and is
available on many platforms, and it is available for free.
There are other open source word processors available as well,
but I seem to think that Open Office provides the best feature
set at the moment.
--
Viktor Haag : Software & Information Design : Research In Motion
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