Re: Reference.docx and default Word styles

[John MacFarlane <jgm-TVLZxgkOlNX2fBVCVOL8/A@public.gmane.org>]

As you point out, #2 may break some existing reference.docx setups.
(That is, people may have a reference.docx that modifies the styles
pandoc currently uses; if pandoc changes these, a new custom
reference.docx would be needed.) Still, I think this isn't sufficient
reason to avoid #2.

One further reservation.  See commit
https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/commit/3fca434737f0eee706c02fba6a2a2629338a1065
which explains (sort of) why we use FootnoteRef instead of
FootnoteReference and Hyperlink instead of Link.

See also
https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/commit/caed0df4a7ed5b2ec0cc2b15cc99e359987982e4
for further amplification.

I can't recall all the details here, just that when I used the Word
style names, Word would sometimes mess things up when the reference.docx
was saved.

I agree that it would be best to use the standard Word styles if
possible, but I wanted to call your attention to this problem I
had earlier.

John

+++ Matthew Pickering [Feb 24 15 02:36 ]:
>Ok -- to clarify you are talking about modifying the docx writer to produce
>an output which word better understands? I don't think that there will be
>many who object to these changes as the reference.docx has been the issue
>of quite a few bug reports. It would be even better if that with these
>changes, it is possible for a user to use any file with these default
>styles defined for reasonable results. Which if I'm understanding correctly
>would be an unintended but nice consequence.
>
>So for the record, I think 2 is the best solution.
>
>On Monday, February 23, 2015 at 10:14:27 PM UTC, Nikolay Yakimov wrote:
>>
>> Hi. I'm working on https://github.com/jgm/pandoc/pull/1968, and I've got
>> some questions.
>>
>> Some styles in reference.docx are marked as custom, some are not. Some of
>> those not marked custom are recognized by Word as built-in. Some are not,
>> however. Word automatically marks those as custom, but this introduces
>> unnecessary ambiguity. Furthermore, some styles not recognized by Word as
>> built-in actually duplicate built-in styles, and could be renamed to
>> reflect that.
>>
>> Here is a list of styles I'm most concerned about:
>> Nameambiguoustypecan be replaced byAuthoryesp?Abstractyesp?Compactyesp?Image
>> Captionyespcaption?Block QuoteyespIntense Quote, Block Text, QuoteTable
>> Captionyespcaption?Definition Termyesp?Definitionyesp?FirstParagraphyesp?
>> LinknocHyperlinkFootnote Refnocfootnote reference
>>
>> these are either ambiguous (again, meaning that they are neither custom,
>> nor Word defaults), duplicate default Word styles, or both.
>>
>> So the question is, what should be done with them? I've got the following
>> options:
>>
>>    1. Update reference.docx to define ambiguous styles as custom. Do
>>    nothing more. This is a quick-and-dirty solution.
>>    2. Replace styles in reference with word-recognized ones as best I
>>    can, set those I can't as custom. This is a longer path, but leading to
>>    hopefully better user experience.
>>    3. Do nothing at all, and hope for the best. This will likely lead to
>>    'surprises' in the future, and not the pleasant kind, I fear.
>>
>> First two options require significant updates to reference.docx though,
>> and option 2 is not strictly backwards-compatible with pandoc-created docx
>> (although it'll likely be a couple of styles, not much more).
>>
>>
>> So, what are your thoughts on this matter?
>>
>
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