Hi all,
I propose a first easy modification to the Styles and Format issue,
regarding their window, which I find much unfriendly (not opposed to
friendly, but to nice :-)):
Today there's plenty of empty space there. If you right-click that
space, you get one option: New. If you right-click over an existing
style, you get three options: New (which will be "based on", or
"inherit" the one you clicked), Modify and Delete. If you left-click
anywhere, you select styles.
I think we could improve usability if we took better advantage of the
two mouse buttons (dismissing those mini context menus).
1. We could have just one more button in that window, called 'New
Style'. It would have a small drop down, with just two options: 'New
Style', and 'New Style Based on Selected', which would create,
respectively, a completely new style or a new one based on the one which
is highlighted.
2. Now, a right-click on an empty area could lead to 'New Style'
directly, without a one-option context menu appearing.
3. Also, a right-click on an existing style could lead to 'Modify Style'
dialog immediately, which is too often used and could be accessed faster
this way. I know it's just one more click, but it's tedious, and
right-clicking, then choosing an option, if you're using a notebook,
that's very tedious, so I think this is a must.
4. At last, we need a 'Delete Style' option. That could be put in any of
the (now) two buttons with mini drop down menus. I would suggest the new
one, with 'New Style' and 'New Style based on selected', since those
newly created would be the only ones that could be deleted this way.
I believe the addition of the new button does not add much clutter, and
is somehow expected: if it's the Style and Format window, how come the
'New Style' is only available through a context menu? That once led me
to think that would be a super-power-user tool and I should never mess
with it; and since I didn't always like the existing styles (plus the
[already mentioned by someone] issue regarding the 'Standard/Default'
style versus 'Body Text' style), I ended up giving up styles at all for
such a long time I still regret. Of course that's a bit exagerated, and
not everybody gives up so easy as I do, but I really think a helping
hand here (and I mean UX design, not just help pages, as good as they
can be) is a must. And since we (I mean, you) are working in the Styles
dialog, I guess the Styles and Format main window could get a facelift too.
How does this sound?
Cheers.
Rafael./
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