Hi Christian,
Sorry for the delay in reply, but I wanted to think about your answer...
In a message dated 2010.05.26 04:31 -0500, Christian Lippka wrote:
... Impress does not have character or paragraph styles. The
main reason for this was not to complicate things. ...
The more i think about this, the more i think Michele has it exactly
right: Styles are not a complication. They can be employed to simplify
and normalize or ignored (as many users do); if the latter, the users
see no additional complication. I'm afraid the complications arise when
OO lacks a clear, consistent vision about how to scope and manage styles.
An exception is the presentation outline shape which sets the
styles outline1 to outline9 to each paragraph depending on the
paragraphs indent.
This may be an example of the problem described above, causing confusion
in multiple ways:
- Styles assigned automagically, with no option to turn off.
- Are "Outline 1".."Outline 9" multiple styles, or multiple levels of
a common style set (e.g., "Outline 9" is level 9 of "Outline 1", and
vice-versa)? How does this compare with the design philosophy of
Numbering styles [Listenvorlagen] in Writer?
As Michele wrote earlier in the thread, "OOo is built around a common
core set of functionalities". Is there a common core philosophy of styles?
Personaly I'm undecided wheter it is a good idea to add such
functionality to impress. I can see the benefits of having
character and paragraph styles in impress like we have in writer
now. On the other hand there are still a majority of users who
do not (want to/need to) understand the current style concept.
Adding more options would only add to the confusion. Apple's Keynote
for example is mostly praised for its simplicity, mainly because
it lacks so many features...
The OP who posted this question is a very bright guy, not a naive user.
He was troubled, I think, not by the options of the "current style
concept", but by its lack of conceptual clarity. I think that's a
problem of design, not of user perceptions.
Thanks for participating in the list. Your perspective is invaluable.
Regards,
John
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