https://bz.apache.org/ooo/show_bug.cgi?id=126882

--- Comment #5 from orcmid <[email protected]> ---
(In reply to John from comment #3)
> I think there is sufficient space to rename "BORDERS" to "APPLY AUTOMATIC
> LINES AS PARAGRAPH BORDERS" which is even more descriptive.

I have to say that if I saw that I would have no idea what it meant.  The
built-in Help on AutoCorrect options is very clear.  I also agree that "Apply
Border" is also not helpful.  Only if one happens to read the Help is all
revealed.

I agree that this is a very counter-intuitive arrangement, especially if folks
are trying to get the equivalent of the HTML horizontal rule.  Then there is
the unexpected automatic operation.

I think this needs to be about automatic conversion of "---" and its kin to
what appear as horizontal lines as the bottom of the preceding paragraph.  This
is what users encounter and it somehow needs to be surfaced in user
understanding in relation to that..

The problem is that this solution to making horizontal rules, however it came
about, is completely incoherent and a quicksand for folks who unintentionally
trigger the autocorrect.  And even doing it on purpose has very quirky
behaviors to deal with.

My suggestion would be to change the function altogether and create a paragraph
in place of the "--" paragraph that is empty but for the border.  (The rule
seems to work just fine on empty paragraphs.)

This would also allow successive lines of "---" to produce successive
horizontal rules.  At the moment, that doesn't work at all when done
intentionally.

Since the ability to put borders on paragraphs is completely supported by other
means, this seems more coherent.

Here's a possible progression (implementable in stages):

 1. Provide an explanation of the current situation so that folks can find
solutions to inadvertent creation of horizontal lines (what they see) that they
can't over-rule (although "undo" does work) so it can be found in (assisting)
trouble-shooting.  There can be various places for this, including the wiki
documentation.

 2. Change the title of the option to "Automatic Horizontal Lines" (even though
not technically accurate, the Help will fix that.)  Anything that is
recognizable in terms of what users encounter is preferable then expecting the
implementation to be comprehended.

 3. Somewhere, identify all the triple cases  "---" and what they produce.  The
AutoCorrect Replace tab would be helpful, although Delete and New would not
control them.    The Help for that tab could be instructive.  More needs to be
figured out about that.

 4. Eventually, consider replacing the border solution with an automatic
paragraph solution.  (Even if it is done as a bottom border, it is now
coherent.)

That's my immediate thinking-out-loud.  The key is to find avenues to this that
users understand and are recognizable in terms of what users experience.

Thanks for the useful analysis and discussion, John.

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