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Old 7th June 2008
DrJ DrJ is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Gold Country, CA
Posts: 507
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TerryP View Post
For collaboration, the only thing I've tried is Google Docs...
I really does depend on what "collaboration" means -- for how much is each party responsible, who is responsible for the document, and how complicated it is.

I've not used Google Docs, but I suspect it is not great at heavy math, chemistry, tables and references. I have, for example, over 2,000 references in a database from which anyone here can draw. They can be inserted automatically into groff and TeX; it would work with Word if I bought an add-in. It is also rather common to snip figures out of those references and insert them into documents. Anyone here can also go back to the lab notebooks (the raw data) and snip out pictures and data or tables. It is all in a database. I would not want to try that with Google Docs.

Usually I send drafts out for comments, and Acrobat works well for that if the file is a PDF.

I do understand that what I do is not likely to be what is necessary here. But in a sense, that is the point. You have to specify very clearly what the goal is. Initially it was just a question about simple WP and spreadsheet alternatives. Now it is collaboration. That is an entirely, and much more difficult problem.

For one paper I am writing with a fellow on the East Coast (I am on the left coast), we are using Word. But there is a lot of math, so I am using an old version of WordPerfect, and converting that to Word. As it comes back (in Word), I re-import into WordPerfect, do my bit if the equations need work, and then send it back as Word. Otherwise I do it in Word. For quick stuff I use OO.o -- no need to get into the VM or Remote Desktop.

This fellow uses a Mac, and just barely, so it works well enough. But there is no way I would try to have him use groff, any of the TeX family, or anything other than what he knows.

While the general advice so far has been good (and the usual ones), the problem really does need to be specified a bit better. My guess is most of the others will use Word, the documents will be of moderate size (say, five to ten pages), there will be no terribly complicated math or chemistry, there will be some tables and figures (complexity unknown) and references (number and any required format unknown). Also unknown is the number of authors and their roles. This has to be spelled out a bit better, as is what the standards are right now.

OK -- I've rambled on long enough..
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