Bug 159870

Summary:	{Writer] Mirrored frame don't alternate between left &right sides
Product:	LibreOffice	Reporter:	ajlittoz <page74010-sf>
Component:	Writer	Assignee:	Not Assigned <libreoffice-bugs>
Status:	RESOLVED DUPLICATE
Severity:	normal	CC:	dgp-mail
Priority:	medium
Version:	7.6.4.1 release
Hardware:	All
OS:	All
See Also:	https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=65412
Whiteboard:
Crash report or crash signature:		Regression By:
Bug Depends on:
Bug Blocks:	107656
Attachments:	Mirrored frames are all rendered in right margin

Description ajlittoz 2024-02-24 19:31:08 UTC

Created attachment 192748 [details]
Mirrored frames are all rendered in right margin

This is a follow on of https://ask.libreoffice.org/t/frame-position-outside-inside-from-inside/102525.

LO 7.6.4.1
Fedora 39
KDE Plasma desktop (QT-based)

Attached file requests a frame to be positioned centered in outer margin. However, after save-reload, frame style is modified outside user's action to remove _Mirrored on even pages_ flag and to replace outer margin by right margin.

This looks like a duplicate of bug 65412.

The argumentation there tends (quick and superficial reading) to legitimate this transformation on the ground that "center" defines the same position on odd/even pages. This may be true for _Entire page_ but when you request centering in sub-parts of page like inner/outer margins, the end result is totally different. And this difference is increased when margins as set in the page styles are not symmetric.

As @Regina comments, the feature is "broken by design". And the proposed fix to disable the option has no sensible ground apart from avoiding author's surprise of seeing its request unexpectedly change in his back.

Being able to center a frame in various sub-regions of the page is perfectly legitimate and when a mirrored layout is chosen, the frame should go in the mirrored sub-region too.

Comment 1 Dieter 2024-03-10 15:17:06 UTC

I confirm the problem, but I would treat it as a duplicate of bug 65412. Could you explain, why you've opened a new report?

Comment 2 ajlittoz 2024-03-10 17:46:34 UTC

At first, I was not sure to understand bug 65412, mainly for a terminology issue (outside/inside -- of what?-- used instead of outer/inner as in the dialogs) and the anchor.

Anchoring "To page" is generally an error because it creates a single-usage frame hard-attached to a specific physical page. Therefore the frame occurs only once. Anchoring "To paragraph" causes potentially repetition of the frame (this is what is implied by inserting a page number in the frame) when the paragraph is in the header or footer. In this case, mirrored layout cause left/right alternation, NO MATTER WHETHER THE FRAME IS IN A MARGIN OR NOT. I mean that horizontal position like "1 cm from left" should behave as "1 cm from right" on the mirrored page.

I admit this is ambiguous because we don't know if "1 cm from left" is originally specified in a left or right page and there is no way to tell. "Outer margin" and "Inner margin" are not ambiguous but they only request a sub-area of the page. But here, something like "1 cm from left" remains ambiguous with regard to mirroring.

Comments by @Regina did not clarify the problem. The only interesting remark is "the feature is broken by design".

Rereading carefully bug 65412, I think my report is finally a duplicate. I don't mind closing it with DUPLICATE status.

Problem still present in 7.6.5.2

Comment 3 Dieter 2024-03-10 17:59:48 UTC

(In reply to ajlittoz from comment #2)
> Rereading carefully bug 65412, I think my report is finally a duplicate. I
> don't mind closing it with DUPLICATE status.

So let's close it. Feel free to comment on bug 65412

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 65412 ***