Feb

11

Code Syntax Highlighter for Open Office

February 11, 2010 | 2 Comments

Today I tried a new task at work. Instead of coding, I wrote about coding. This is a scary thing to attempt, especially if your writing is aimed for people from the other side of the wall. Those who look with suspicion at your screen when all you have showing is a dark console window, those who do not understand how in the world a semi-colon could mean so much. The worse thing is, when we share what we do with these people, we are not really giving them a chance to realize how clear and simple it all is. Send a php file to a non developer, he’ll open it with Notepad (if not Microsoft Office) and immediately close it thinking it’s a virus. That’s why I decided to add some syntax highlighting to my API documentation I was writing with Open Office. Maybe it can look appealing to “real” people, too.

By the way, I must say I am very impressed by the evolution Open Office.org shows now in it’s 3.1 installment. I used it since version 1.0 and regularely had to go back to my student edition of Microsoft Office to complete my thesis and reports for school. I do not feel that need anymore. OOo just became stable and powerful enough.

So, anyway, there is an OpenOffice.org extension to do just that, code syntax highlighting. It is called COOoder

Download and open it with OpenOffice then confirm the installation process and validate the User Agreements. Finally, restart OpenOffice.

Now you can create a document (with Writer) and start pasting your code. In the toolbar, you should see the COOoder button. Select your code and click the button. Pick your language from the drop down list and click “OK”.

Awesome! Now your non-developing audience can enjoy neat looking geek stuff.

Filed under: Computing, Real World

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2 Comments to "Code Syntax Highlighter for Open Office"

  1. Trackback on samantha on February 11, 2010 at 10:42 pm

    New blog post: Code Syntax Highlighter for Open Office: Today I tried a new task at work. Instead of coding, I wro… http://bit.ly/a7TdAX

  2. Trackback on Samantha Halfon on February 11, 2010 at 10:42 pm

    New blog post: Code Syntax Highlighter for Open Office: Today I tried a new task at work. Instead of coding, I wro… http://bit.ly/a7TdAX

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