Writing a book w/F16?

[Rikke D. Giles]

On 12/09/2011 12:22:15 PM, NOSpaze wrote:

> I need to know what software f16 includes to aid in the task of
> writing a book 

<snip>

> Mind mapping (freemind is ok, any alternatives?), editing separated
> chapters and ordering afterwards, possibility of looking a list of
> sections or chapters summaries, comparing visually two texts, create
> tables of contents, fast access by indexes, use the less scrolling as
> possible (I know the fast key combinations)...

I've just about finished writing my second book with OpenOffice.  The 
first was my PhD dissertation, and OpenOffice did well with that, 
despite all the various advisor/editors sticking their fingers in the 
pot, etc.  OpenOffice actually does just about everything you've listed 
above, and yes, at times it can be slow, especially when building 200+ 
page master documents from chapters with lots of tables and 
illustrations.  I suffer along with that, because it works great 
otherwise.  

Also useable are scribus and TeX and LaTeX (although these two 
aren't exactly wysiwyg).  I haven't tried Writer's Cafe or Scrivener, 
although those look interesting.

If you are doing research writing, in which citations are important, 
I'd recommend adding Zotero and the Zotero add-on for OpenOffice.  
Zotero is an add-on for Firefox, but there is also a stand alone 
version.  It's a great little program for keeping track of references; 
book, articles, webpages, and so on.  The Zotero OpenOffice add-on lets 
you easily create bilbiographies, library lists, citation lists and 
more.  And Zotero itself just rocks for research.  I use it all the 
time now.

Cheers,
Rikke