On Wed, 2005-06-01 at 15:14 +0200, Peter Reaper wrote: > Jonathon Coombes on 31.05.2005 22:40 wrote: > > On Tue, 2005-05-31 at 15:19 +0200, Peter Reaper wrote: > > > >>Some things that still "bug" me about OpenOffice: > >> > >>1. The page ZOOM toolbar button needs to be a dropdown selection, > >>instead of the more cumbersome separate dialog window. > > > > There is a method for this - you simply right-click on the zoom info > > in the status bar and get a list of the zooms from which to choose. > > Not good/discoverable enough.
Which one - good enough or discoverable enough? I discovered it quite easily, and I am not an avid office software user. Good enough? Well, you asked for a drop-down selection - is this not a dropdown selection? > >>2. The document page should be CENTERED on the screen instead of on the > >>left edge, which is visually "unbalanced". > > > > This is not an issue for most people who are use to Left-to-Right text, > > I doubt your claim can be backed-up with facts. But your claims that WP is "better" can be? > > but could be a good option for Right-to-Left text users. I suggest you > > put in a Request for Enhancement (RFE) and see how the votes go. > > I put in 4 RFE's yesterday. I'm RFE'd-out for now I saw these - always a good thing. > >>3. It is too cumbersome to add toolbar buttons that are not in the > >>standard set. The user should be able to just select a category on the > >>left (which BTW should mirror the MENU items) and then on the right have > >>a list of ALL functions in that category which he can drag to the > toolbar. > > > > Ummm... This is how it is done? There is a list of categories which > > contain the icons and you "drag" them over to the menubar set on the > > right. How are you trying to do this? > > There are too many features "hidden" under the "Add" button. All > features should be reachable without digging. See the bug(s) i filed in > a previous post of this thread. Unfortunately, you cannot display every option that people will use in one single list. It would create a list many pages long, and I would guess you would have a problem with scrolling then. I think that having a structured method than can be drilled into is a more logical structure for the whole community of users. > >>4. Need shortcut: CTRL+SHIFT+V = paste without formatting. > > > > This can be done in the new version for 2.0. > > No, Ctrl+Shift+v still brings up that superfluous "Paste Special" dialog > in 1.9.104. So you want to do away with the other paste special options, or move them to another "paste very special" feature? > >>5. Context menus in tables should offer many (all) table-specific > >>operations. This could be fine-tuned to adjust to how the table is > >>selected (cell, row,...) > > > > They do. Which ones are you missing? > > I just looked at it again, and OOo does seem to have decent context menu > settings for tables. See screenshots: > > http://lairo.com/files/temp/WordPerfect_Table_Context-Menu.jpg > http://lairo.com/files/temp/OOo_Table_Context-Menu.jpg OK. Glad we solved that problem. > I do think that the context menu for images is far better in WP (e.g., > fine-grained Size & Position settings) than in OOo. See > screenshots: > > http://lairo.com/files/temp/WordPerfect_Images_Context-Menu.jpg > http://lairo.com/files/temp/OOo_Images_Context-Menu.jpg On examining your example here, I would suggest that the OOo context menu does hold close to the same features that the WordPerfect one does. However, the OOo context has some of the simpler features like size, position, border etc, all in the Picture choice in one dialog rather than many. It keeps the context menu clean and fast, but still allows full acess with one or two clicks. I prefer it this way. > >>7. Context menus need to be much more powerful (more items) and > CONTEXTUAL. > > > > Examples? > > See screenshot of WP images CM: > > http://lairo.com/files/temp/WordPerfect_Images_Context-Menu.jpg How many features in the context menu before you would class it as unusable? Some objects could have dozens of features that you seem to ask for in one single context menu. I would find this much harder to navigate than the existing methods. > Also ability to right-click on toolbars. You could right click on the toolbars in 1.x, but they now have a drop-down option for each toolbar in 2.x version. This allows for customisation etc, is this what you are after? > >>8. Draw doesn't offer a sensible default line color/width and form fill > >>color; and worse, it doesn't remember what I had previously selected > >>(goes back to idiotic defaults). > > > > Have you define these in your default template? > > No normal user will know how let alone want to do this. What is the > target customer of OOo? Just like no normal user would know what reveal codes are now in word processing, but people still seem to want them. There are certain methods used in programs which will improve and change over time. This is one of them. The idea of styles and templates is not specific to OpenOffice.org. The exact same concept is used in web applications and newer n-tier application design in use around the world. > >>9. Writer's UI needs to be MUCH more like WordPerfect's UI (context > >>menus, paste-without-formatting, tables handling, tabs handling, > >>indenting paragraph AFTER some text (F7), ...) > > > > Most of these you have mentioned previously right? > > No. You asked about context menu, paste without formatting, the tables context menus all previously. > > The others you mentioned can all be done using styles. The tabs and indenting are handled by styles. > No they can't, and this is a non-solution for the vast majority of > users. OOo needs more sensible and powerful default features. What setting do you want for these as I would be suprised if it was not achievable in the styles. A non-solution means it cannot solve the problem. You have not stated the problems with tabs or indenting yet to verify that it cannot be solved. State what you have tried to do, or make a sample file avialable and I am sure some solution would be made available. OOo has very sensible and default features. The reason is that the default features can be very easily set by any user by creating their own default template. This gives not only the power you have requested, by also allows the flexibility that is required for an internationally directed office package. > >>10. The installer should NOT install the pre-loader by default. That is > >>just invasive, rude, and shows that the programmer couldn't properly > >>optimize the program. What if EVERY program did that? Our PC's would > >>come to a crawl from the load. > > > > Well actually, a lot of them do. MS Windows does a lot of preloading > > in its startup to allow MS Office to start more quickly when used. > > So you're using MS Office as a basis on making "good" decisions? I do not user MS Office, nor did I make a decision in my statement. I simply used the most commonly known application to make my point. I am not against better coding methods and implementation, but I don't think saying pre-loading defines bad coded applications. > >>OOo 2.0 beta is a HUGE improvement over OOo 1.1.x :-) > > > > And seems to cover most of the areas that were a problem for you. > > No it doesn't. > > > Are you looking at making > > OOo and exact replica of WordPerfect? > > I would like to see OOo come up to WP's level. No, I think what you would like is to have WP made available at the price of OpenOffice.org. I think you need to realise that WP is now very much a niche program used only by select groups. The number of users of WP is much lower than MS Office and probably even OOo now. OpenOffice.org is far superior to the WP that I have seen it the past. Just because it does not do things in exactly the same manner as WP does not mean that it is inferior. I would suggest the main problem here is a change management issue rather than a technical issue. Regards Jonathon -- OOo Tips (RSS) - http://mindmeld.cybersite.com.au/tips.rss OOo Knowledgebase - http://mindmeld.cybersite.com.au/ Cybersite Consulting - http://www.cybersite.com.au/ Training4Linux - http://www.training4linux.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
