Redesigning Or Improving Lulu.com ODF Templates

Just yesterday, I came up with the idea of having a single separate template for the title page, copyright page, and table of contents, which can all be sized with the page styles. Read on, for the details. Reminder: I would appreciate some feedback.

ODF Text Template Containing All ISO 216 And ISO 269 Sizes

The other day, I uploaded a new ODF template, that contains most of the ISO paper sizes.

In the remainder of the blog entry, I'll try to explain my technical choices for the design of the template.

ODF Template Survey

It took me a while to get around to it, but I decided to offer this survey. I'm really interested in quality control for my templates. Please take the necessary 5 - 10 minutes to complete the survey. You'll be doing your part to improve the state of free/open software, because free/open software needs templates too. Click here to take survey.

Almost Last Lulu.com ODF Template Is Uploaded

I finished making and uploading the last Lulu.com template that corresponds to Lulu.com's current offerings. I must say that it was a little anti-climactic. I don't know why, but I thought that it would almost be like...well, I don't know.

The reason that it wasn't the last Lulu.com template, is because we will need more than what Lulu.com offered. Keep reading to see what the future holds for the Lulu.com set of ODF templates.

More ODF Book Cover Book Templates

I uploaded a few more ODF templates to the OpenOffice.org templates web site.

• Lulu.com US Trade Sized Casewrap Cover
• Lulu.com 8.25 x 10.75 Sized Casewrap Cover
• Lulu.com 8.25" x 10.75" Sized Book

We'll only need 1 more book cover template to make the Lulu.com template set complete!

ODF Demonstration Template [contains a KDE's Oxygen colour palette]

I just wanted to update you on the ODF Demonstration template. I replaced that colour palette with KDE's Oxygen colour palette. Now you can make images with the exact same colours. Also, I added a grey colour palette, which contains more shades of grey, plus the shades of grey from Oxygen's colour palette.

ODF Demonstration Template [contains a colour palette]

[Update: I wrote a new blog entry that should help you find things that are mentioned in the instructions.]

For those of you who don't follow the OpenOffice.org template site, I want to point out that I created a template, which contains a different colour palette. The template is meant to demonstrate that you could save a colour palette with the template.

Technically, you can't attach a colour palette to a OpenOffice.org document or template, but you can copy the colour pallet file's content into the template or document. The colour palette file's content is just text. There are instructions available in the demonstration template's properties.

Afterwards, be sure to check out that blog label, "templates", where you will find more of my discoveries on how to make use of templates.

How To Install OpenOffice.org ODF Templates

I was going to write about how to install ODF templates in OpenOffice.org, because I accidentally discovered that we can actually get them listed in the dialogs. It turns out that there already is a decent explanation: Adding Template Files to an OpenOffice.org Installation.

In the remainder of this blog entry, I share my experiences, and offer installation tips.

Afterwards, be sure to check out that blog label, "templates", where you will find more of my discoveries on how to make use of templates.

Thoughts On Latest Web Traffic And ODF Templates

I can see that my earlier blog entry, "ODF Templates For OpenOffice.org [Lulu.com, Turabian, misc]", seems to resonate well with my visitors. I'm not entirely sure why that is. I suspect that each visitor is just a curious person who wants to see what's happening. I suspect that each person is skimming through.

I also suspect that it's a case of visitors being curious about ODF templates. I've felt, for some time, that there are not enough templates out there to allow us to harness the power of ODF. These templates don't need to be very complex. They just need to save us a few key strokes. I wish that there were a way to figure out which templates users are demanding. It would be so much easier to meet their needs, that way.

Currently, there seem to be a lot of spreadsheet templates, and presentation background templates. These don't really excite me. I wish we could make more use of Writer and Draw.

ODF Template Update Notifications

[For those of you who don't know, I have uploaded many ODF templates to OpenOffice.org Templates.]

I try to create quality products, but I'm just a volunteer, so obviously, I don't always manage to release the templates at their best. Sometimes I discover new ways of doing things to improve the quality. Any time there are changes, I upload. For quite some time, it took me a while to figure out how to notify my followers that there are significant changes. Read the remainder of this blog entry to see how I now do it, and why I choose this, over other methods.

After that, be sure to check out that blog label, "templates", where you will find more discoveries on how to make use of templates.

ODF Templates For OpenOffice.org [Lulu.com, Turabian, misc]

For quite some time now, I have been creating ODF templates.

Eugene T.S. Wong's Templates

The only template that I did not create is the Turabian template. I just downloaded it, and modified the properties, so that it would work with the templates web site.

Keep reading for more information.

Afterwards, be sure to check out that blog label, "templates", where you will find more discoveries on how to make use of templates.