Using OpenOffice with Photoshop

[zarathustra]

I recently built a website that has some graphics on it. I made the graphics myself in photoshop, and I used the photoshop slice tool to cut hyperlinked boxes in the graphics. When I edited the resulting file in my old open office (1.3), I had no problems. However, when I try now, the slices aren't arranged properly.

A clean version of the file I'm trying to edit is available at this url: https://wfs.gc.cuny.edu/MAlfano/www/CV% ... apers.html

I've uploaded a pdf version of the file that OpenOffice 2.4 is having trouble with. Any advice would be most appreciated!!

[foxcole]

I recently built a website that has some graphics on it. I made the graphics myself in photoshop, and I used the photoshop slice tool to cut hyperlinked boxes in the graphics.

Whenever you're talking about certain types of files not working properly, please remember to provide the exact file type. A native Photoshop .psd file contains very different data from a .gif or .png.

I've uploaded a pdf version of the file that OpenOffice 2.4 is having trouble with.

Again, technical details are required here. OpenOffice consists of many different modules. Which one, specifically, are you working in? What was the format of the original file that worked, and did you convert it to some version of HTML? Are you editing the HTML or a native OOo file format? Many significant changes happened between 1.x and 2.x in OOo, so every file format or step of file conversion is critically important. What else can you tell us about these files? What version(s) of Photoshop are you using? Did you edit the images directly in Photoshop or in its twin app, ImageReady?

[zarathustra]

Thanks for the quick reply!

I'm using Photoshop 7.0. I created a .psd file for the graphics, then used the "save for web" function to save an html version of the graphics.

I'm not sure what you mean about modules: I'm using the Openoffice.org Writer/Web tool. Is that the module?

The .psd file still works just fine. If I use firefox to open the .html filecreated by photoshop, that looks fine as well. However, when I open the same .html file with OpenOffice's Writer/Web tool, it's all messed up.

I tried re-doing the "save for web" thing in photoshop (not imageready), thinking that maybe a fresh version of the file would be enough for openoffice 2.4 to deal with it correctly: it didn't help. As I mentioned in my previous post, the .html worked fine in 1.3, and it looks just fine on my website (here: https://wfs.gc.cuny.edu/MAlfano/www/CV% ... apers.html).

Please let me know what else I can tell you to help you figure out the problem. It seems to me that the main issue has to do with the spacing in the tables. It's as if a hard return has been put in after the graphics in each cell.

[foxcole]

I'm using Photoshop 7.0. I created a .psd file for the graphics, then used the "save for web" function to save an html version of the graphics.

Actually, truth is, there is no such thing as an html version of graphics. Photoshop either saves the image as a .gif file or creates an HTML page with a folder containing a .gif version of the image to link into the html page. Either way, it's no longer a .psd image file but Photoshop's flavor of .gif (meaning, gif from one program isn't necessarily the same as gif fron another).

I'm not sure what you mean about modules: I'm using the Openoffice.org Writer/Web tool.

My apologies! By "module" I mean Writer or Calc or Draw or Impress... etc. By the fact you're seeing Writer/Web, I can tell you that you're editing an HTML file because that's the only way to enter Writer/Web... that is, opening an HTML file with Writer automatically launches the Writer/Web. So you must be editing an HTML file that you created in Photoshop by using "save for web" and that links to a version of the image.

The .psd file still works just fine. If I use firefox to open the .html filecreated by photoshop, that looks fine as well. However, when I open the same .html file with OpenOffice's Writer/Web tool, it's all messed up.

Actually, that's not very surprising. Word processors such as Writer (or, Writer/Web) make very poor HTML editors.

I tried re-doing the "save for web" thing in photoshop (not imageready), thinking that maybe a fresh version of the file would be enough for openoffice 2.4 to deal with it correctly: it didn't help. As I mentioned in my previous post, the .html worked fine in 1.3, and it looks just fine on my website (here: https://wfs.gc.cuny.edu/MAlfano/www/CV% ... apers.html).

So very many changes have occurred since 1.3, all of which extend but also complicate the editing capabilities of OOo, that you're essentially comparing (forgive the cliché) apples to oranges.

It seems to me that the main issue has to do with the spacing in the tables. It's as if a hard return has been put in after the graphics in each cell.

Without a raw example of the html page plus graphics, it's hard to tell what you're working with... because I can't tell that you're actually working with tables. There are some rules of translation from any word processor to HTML, though, that might help at least understand what's happening. In a word processor, a table is a text property. Each cell in a table must contain a paragraph mark, to define the individual properties of the text in that cell.

In any word processor, a paragraph mark (hard return) translates to a <p> paragraph tag in HTML. That <p> tag is defined by default to include extra spacing before; a soft return (shift+enter in Word or Writer) translates to a simple line break, a <br> tag in HTML.

In Writer, the default paragraph style for table cells is Table Contents, but that is defined without extra spacing. However, you'll want to check the table properties, because usually some cell padding or spacing is included by default.

That's as much as I can offer without seeing and working with the actual files you're using. I hope it at least provides some clues.