https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=150446
--- Comment #2 from ajlittoz <[email protected]> --- Hi Dieter, The bug is quite difficult to explain because of a vocabulary problem. The page style configuration dialog implicitly assumes that binding will be at left edge of right pages and subsequently uses "left" and "right" to make a distinction between alternating pages. "Left" and "right" adequately describe the position of duplex-printed pages relative to the binding in mirrored layout. When binding is at top, gutter must be positioned at top (selected from "Gutter position:" drop-down menu). Now when we look at a duplex-printed document put on table, we have a "top" page, the binding and a "bottom" page. In mirrored layout, words "top" and "bottom" conceptually replace "left" and "right" respectively. Remark: I don't think it is necessary to replace "left" and "right" in the page style dialog because it could confuse users (many concepts in Writer already confuse casual users, so it would be detrimental to add a new subtlety). But UX may have a different opinion. (End of remark) The gutter feature was introduced to "simplify" (?) page layout design, separating the "usable" area from the mechanically-constrained binding gutter. Then margins are really what user perceives as margins without complicated arithmetics. Non symmetric margins can be easily applied both in mirrored and non-mirrored cases. This works well for "left" binding. With top binding, in Mirrored context as well as in Right & left (both implying duplex printing), the gutter should be placed at top for "right" page because such a page is located below the binding edge; and at bottom for "left" page as it is located above the binding edge. For a 'Left' or 'Right' page there is no alternation and gutter should be positioned at bottom and top respectively. Note there is a flaw in my report. It is correct in duplex-printing context but wrong in single-sided printed. Even in this case we can request a gutter for binding. So the hard point in this report is: how do we characterise duplex-printing so that Writer can apply correct alternation? I feel that Mirrored is not sufficient. Mirrored is only a simplified convenience. Sophisticated schemes use three page styles: one for the initial page of the sequence, one for left pages and one for right pages; all of them linked by their Next Style parameters. And in the 3-style case, gutter positioning on left pages is wrong because only Left is possible and Writer doesn't detect the Next style alternation. Solving this bug will be hard because the underlying feature probably needs a redesign or at least a deep insight. Presently, to get the expected result, gutter must be dropped (set to 0) and user must include the gutter width in the Inner margin. But this doesn't work with top binding because the inner and outer margins are still taken as being at left and right instead of top and bottom. Finally, I don't know if I should change this bug report to complain against the interpretation of gutter "Top" with "Inner" and "Outer" margins which should be flipped from "vertical" to "horizontal" margins. -- You are receiving this mail because: You are the assignee for the bug.
