September 3, 2009

OpenOffice vs. Microsoft Word for WordPress blogging — a 65:1 ratio in cruft

I prepare most of my blog posts in OpenOffice. Most of the rest I write directly online in WordPress. I almost never use Microsoft Word.

The reason, simply put, is cruft.

When I copy a post from OpenOffice to WordPress, I invariably get a line at the top that looks like

<!–         @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in }         P { margin-bottom: 0.08in }     –>

I delete that, which according to OpenOffice stats amounts to exactly 100 characters; I fiddle with the bullet points a bit; I add a title, categories, and a MORE separator; and I’m basically good to go.

By way of contrast, in a recent post I copied a sentence from a press release I’d recieved across Google Mail in .DOC format, forgetting to stage it into OpenOffice first.  The cruft I needed to delete consisted of 6489 characters, namely:

<!– /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Wingdings; panose-1:5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:2; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 268435456 0 0 -2147483648 0;} @font-face {font-family:”MS Mincho”; panose-1:2 2 6 9 4 2 5 8 3 4; mso-font-alt:”ＭＳ 明朝“; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:modern; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 18 0 131231 0;} @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:auto; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Verdana; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1593833729 1073750107 16 0 415 0;} @font-face {font-family:”\@MS Mincho”; panose-1:2 2 6 9 4 2 5 8 3 4; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:modern; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 18 0 131231 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:””; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; mso-layout-grid-align:none; text-autospace:none; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:”MS Mincho”; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-language:JA;} h2 {mso-style-next:Normal; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; mso-outline-level:2; mso-layout-grid-align:none; text-autospace:none; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:”MS Mincho”; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-language:JA; font-weight:normal;} h3 {mso-style-next:Normal; margin-top:12.0pt; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:3.0pt; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; page-break-after:avoid; mso-outline-level:3; mso-layout-grid-align:none; text-autospace:none; font-size:13.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:”MS Mincho”; mso-fareast-language:JA; font-weight:bold;} p.MsoCommentText, li.MsoCommentText, div.MsoCommentText {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; mso-layout-grid-align:none; text-autospace:none; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:”MS Mincho”; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-language:JA;} p.MsoHeader, li.MsoHeader, div.MsoHeader {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; tab-stops:center 3.0in right 6.0in; font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} p.MsoFooter, li.MsoFooter, div.MsoFooter {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; tab-stops:center 3.0in right 6.0in; mso-layout-grid-align:none; text-autospace:none; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:”MS Mincho”; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-language:JA;} span.MsoCommentReference {mso-ansi-font-size:8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:8.0pt;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:#606420; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} p {margin-right:0in; mso-margin-top-alt:auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} p.CommentSubject, li.CommentSubject, div.CommentSubject {mso-style-name:”Comment Subject”; mso-style-parent:”Comment Text”; mso-style-next:”Comment Text”; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; mso-layout-grid-align:none; text-autospace:none; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-fareast-font-family:”MS Mincho”; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-language:JA; font-weight:bold;} p.BalloonText, li.BalloonText, div.BalloonText {mso-style-name:”Balloon Text”; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; mso-layout-grid-align:none; text-autospace:none; font-size:8.0pt; font-family:Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family:”MS Mincho”; mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-language:JA;} span.stylearial10ptblack {mso-style-name:stylearial10ptblack;} span.body1 {mso-style-name:body1; mso-ansi-font-size:7.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size:7.5pt; mso-ascii-font-family:Verdana; mso-hansi-font-family:Verdana;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:-2; mso-list-type:simple; mso-list-template-ids:1315765622;} @list l0:level1 {mso-level-start-at:0; mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:*; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:0in; text-indent:0in;} @list l1 {mso-list-id:508636615; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:775071060 1270362110 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693;} @list l1:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:.25in; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:.25in; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:9.0pt; font-family:Symbol; color:windowtext; mso-ansi-font-weight:normal; mso-ansi-font-style:normal;} @list l2 {mso-list-id:809203047; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:1745241986 1270362110 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693;} @list l2:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:.25in; mso-level-number-position:left; margin-left:.25in; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:9.0pt; font-family:Symbol; color:windowtext; mso-ansi-font-weight:normal; mso-ansi-font-style:normal;} @list l3 {mso-list-id:1376927774; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:323012810 -557689488 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693 67698689 67698691 67698693;} @list l3:level1 {mso-level-number-format:bullet; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:.5in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in; mso-ansi-font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Symbol; color:windowtext;} @list l0:level1 lfo1 {mso-level-numbering:continue; mso-level-text:; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; mso-level-legacy:yes; mso-level-legacy-indent:.25in; mso-level-legacy-space:0in; margin-left:0in; text-indent:0in; font-family:Symbol;} ol {margin-bottom:0in;} ul {margin-bottom:0in;} –>

That’s a whole other level of annoying.

Categories: Microsoft 
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Comments

5 Responses to “OpenOffice vs. Microsoft Word for WordPress blogging — a 65:1 ratio in cruft”

  1. Paul Power on October 2nd, 2009 7:11 pm

    Hi,

    I don’t use either – I use windows live writer ( from microsoft ). It’s a a surprisingly great piece of software that provides rich editing, media embedding, editing/republish, tagging etc. etc. Check out http://download.live.com/writer

    An no, I’m not a MS fanboy .. its’ the only piece of MS software I voluntarily use 🙂

  2. Gandalf on October 6th, 2009 7:50 am

    MS Word is wrong tool for any html kind tasks.

    Here is a tip for alternative blog writers at alternativeTo.net in http://alternativeto.net/desktop/windows-live-writer/

    []´s

  3. Dmitriy Naginryak on October 14th, 2009 6:56 am

    Windows Live Writer is probably the best available publishing tool.

    Nor OpenOffice neither MS Word should not be used to copy-paste content as HTML. Their intention is to create reach documents but not prepare HTML for WordPress (or any other CMS/Blogging platform).

    Additionally when you want to copy from MS Word it is possible to clean the markup using Ctrl-Shift-Space (if I remember correctly).

  4. pi865 on October 30th, 2009 11:13 am

    maybe you guys know this, but in wordpress you can click the Paste from MSWord icon above the text field, and press ctrl + v, to get clean(ish) text

  5. Curt Monash on November 29th, 2009 6:36 pm

    Paste from Word didn’t seem to work as well for me as ordinary copy/paste from OpenOffice, but admittedly I haven’t tried it for a quite a while.

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