OOo Major Annoyance and How to Fix it

[rant]The delete key. Friend of everyone who ever wants to edit and fix everything. Well, in OpenOffice.org's Calc, it's broke. I'm sorry, it's just not right. I cannot even imagine how someone as savvy as the programmer who came up with this could also fail to see the implications of this broken thing for new users. [/rant]

What happens is that when using Calc, if the user hits the Delete key, a dialog shows up asking the user to select what elements of the cell are deleted - contents, style, borders, all, etc. A VERY useful idea. I cannot tell the number of times that little dialog would have been welcome when I was using Excel - don't want the cell border, but do want the contents? Easy to do and so much faster than having to go through the Cell Formating process to do it.

However, as useful as this is, NO ONE WILL EVER USE IT EVERY TIME and that's the real problem I have with it. I am used to using the Delete key to kill a cell and everything in it from my Excel days. Sure, I could use the Backspace key, where this functionality currently resides in OOo, but that takes time to learn and that annoys and frustrates new users. I want it in both places, but still want to be able to get that dialog for those special times when it's really handy.

So, here's how to fix the darn thing and make it work the way it should have from the very start. These come courtesy of "drensink," a user over at OOo's bug forum, though instead of swapping between Delete and Backspace, I use shift-Del to bring up the dialog. Thank you drensink!

NOTE: There are two "Delete Contents" talked about below - make sure you really follow the directions to add the correct one to the correct button.

Part One - Add the Dialog to Shift-Del

1. Click "Tools" in the main menu
2. Click "Customize" in the submenu
3. Click the "Keyboard" Tab
4. Set the radio button to "Calc" which should be the default
5. In the Shortcut keys list scroll to and select "Shift-Delete"
6. In the Functions Lists select "Edit" under Category and the second "Delete Contents" under Function
7. Click the Modify Button

Part Two - Making the Delete key delete everything: still in Customize

1. In the Shortcut keys list scroll to and select "Delete"
2. In the Functions Lists select "Edit" under Category and the first "Delete Contents" under Function
3. Click the Modify Button
4. Click the OK Button

Ubuntu!

Last week, I started. Two days ago, I committed. And today, it's official - I will not be going to back to Windows on my personal computer.

I've been playing with various Linux distributions for a number of years, but never had the time during school to really get it perfected. I think I've finally gotten there now and the results are quite pretty.

I'm running the newest version of Xubuntu - that's the flavor of Ubuntu linux that runs the XFCE desktop environment. It's pretty fast on that old computer and works well. By far the most painless thing was setting up our printer. I downloaded one thing and it works perfectly, way better than it did on Windows.

So, I'm happy.

One More Niggle Down

During my efforts to slowly switch my entire computing life over to open source software (read "free" if you don't know what that is), I am constantly having to overcome small obstacles to get my new and pretty open source programs working similarly to how I work in proprietary software. This means I spend a lot of time looking for an answer for how to do something once, but that saves me a lot of time later when I actually have to apply it because it already fits my work style. Sometimes, it's an easy switch and sometimes it a real pain.

Today, I found an answer I was looking for as I convert from using Microsoft Office products to the OpenOffice.org office suite. In Excel, there is a feature that is used with the Fill when you highlight a bunch of cells - if you go to the lower, right-hand corner of the selected you get a little plus sign ("+") and from there if you click and drag you automatically fill. This is almost identical to how it works in OpenOffice.org's Calc, except for one small niggle: Fill Format Only.

I use this ALL the time in Excel when I'm trying to get a table looking really nice for print - creating a line of white and line of light gray makes it much easier to follow data across the table. And in Excel, all I have to do is a Fill drag and then select "Fill Format Only" from the little drop down that appears and PRESTO! it's done, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Well, there is no drop down that appears in OpenOffice.org's Calc. Now, you could do this by selecting each row and applying the cell color to each row, but that takes forever when you have a large table. What I learned today is that there is a way to get the same effect and it only takes one more mouse click than in Excel.

Steps:

1. Select the "reference cells" or the cells whose format you want to copy.
2. Click on the Formating Paintbrush icon on the main tool bar (see Figure 2).
3. Click and drag over the cells where you want the formating applied.

Figure 2.

That's it. The additional mouse click is all it takes. Actually, you can do the exact same thing in Excel using the Format Paintbrush feature - but I had never learned this so for me, it's an additional mouse click.

Finally Settled In Our Home (Before & After)

I have been promising pictures of the house once it was a little more in order, however, every time it was (it didn't stay that way for long) I forgot to take pictures. So finally here are some updated pictures with our furniture.



Excuse the mess some is still moving in and some was a craft project or a few that I have started.

Our Prom

So, obviously Grant and I never really got to go to Prom together. However, our Stake puts on a Prom so that the girls who weren't asked or who want to wear their dresses again or go to a dance that is a little more modest can go. They invite all adults 16 and older. Grant and I thought we would take advantage of that and here are some of the pictures before.




Aren't we HOT???

Rebellious Tendencies

I'm to the point in my life when the wallet hit on gasoline is becoming too much - especially since I have to drive a pickup as my commuting vehicle. Stacie and I have been thinking about getting a second car, but now even that would be too much of a financial strain. So, I'm looking at another kind of transportation - a Honda Rebel 250.

That's right, a motorcycle. A small one, but that gets good gas mileage and will cost way less than any car I could hope to buy and keep more than just a few years.

Spring in OK

For those of you who miss "Green Country" and for those of you who have never seen it. We had to make a trip to Oklahoma City or "OKC" over a week ago and this was some of the scenery around OKC. Is that popcorn popping on the apricot tree???