Bug 126674 - LibreOffice 6.3.0~rc2-1 Writer: undesirable menu changes
Summary: LibreOffice 6.3.0~rc2-1 Writer: undesirable menu changes
Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: UI (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
6.3.0.2 rc
Hardware: x86-64 (AMD64) Linux (All)
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords: needsUXEval
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2019-08-02 10:00 UTC by John Parker
Modified: 2019-08-04 06:47 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments

Note You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.
Description John Parker 2019-08-02 10:00:07 UTC
I have noticed user-interface changes for the worse. They concern the menus that show after you right-click a numbered paragraph. I'm guessing that these menus have been rearranged to accommodate more list-paragraph options — probably for those writers who don't use styles. A good idea but IMHO the new arrangement is clumsy.

There are three oddities:

(I)   It's now harder to set a paragraph to either restart numbering from one or to set numbering to continue from a previous paragraph.

With LibreOffice 6.0.7 Writer, if you wanted to adjust paragraph numbering, you right-clicked anywhere in the paragraph and then clicked either 'Restart Numbering' or 'Continue previous numbering'.

With LibreOffice 6.3.0-rc2-1, to do the same thing, you have to:

1. Right-click anywhere in the paragraph.

2. Select 'Bullets and Numbering'.

3. Click either 'Restart Numbering' or 'Continue previous numbering'.

That Step 2 is not cool.
 
(II)  With LibreOffice 6.3.0-rc2-1, a tick shows next to 'Restart Numbering' for paragraphs that have been set for continuous numbering. Why? Previously, an empty square showed inviting a mouse-click if a change was wanted.

(III) Before, if you right-clicked and selected 'Bullets and Numbering' you were taken to a page where you could select and position a symbol, number or graphic. Now, you have to select 'Bullets and Numbering' and then select 'Bullets and Numbering' again.

If it were up to me, on a numbered paragraph, after the first right-click, a drop-down menu would offer the following:

Paste
Paste special

Clone formatting
Clear direct formatting

Character

Paragraph

□ Restart numbering
□ Continue previous numbering
□ Numbering off
Numbering position, symbol or number...

Demote one level

Page...

A tick would replace the □, depending on the status of the numbered paragraph. The 'Numbering position, symbol or number...' label would replace the current 'Bullets and Numbering' label.

I write a lot of procedures that use numbered lists. I implement them with styles. Right-clicking a numbered paragraph is something I often have to do. As things now stand, this part of the user interface has become inconvenient.
Comment 1 V Stuart Foote 2019-08-02 14:02:17 UTC
Suggestion essentially is for return Context menu for Paragraphs to a flat single level menu. Bullets & Numbering in a submenu was intentional redesign for default UI. Followed by rework of the Bullets & Numbering dialog (bug 120905)

As Context menus are fully customizable--user can reconfigure adding/removing elements as they prefer. But default configuration is as designed.

IMHO => WF
Comment 2 John Parker 2019-08-02 21:00:01 UTC
Bug 120905 was evidently initially raised for LibreOffice Impress. I cannot comment about any improvements now made to its workflow. The bug mentions usability studies. With LibreOffice Writer, the three matters I raise are regressive features. I cannot believe that a usability study was carried out in Writer after the paragraph right-context menus were redesigned and that the usability study showed the new arrangement to be best.

This is a tiny part of the overall Writer user interface. But I have to use it often. It's good to know that the developers faithfully implemented the design. For me, it's a regressive design.

To be sure, LibreOffice provides a means of customising menus. But don't you think that for workflows everybody uses, efficient menus should be provided by default?
Comment 3 Heiko Tietze 2019-08-03 06:48:08 UTC
The submenu is the only possibility to have many items in the context menu. The new structure aligns the list section with paragraph and character styles, which is a big plus. Beside customization, could you also consider a slightly different workflow by using the toolbar and/or sidebar?

(In reply to John Parker from comment #0)

> □ Restart numbering
> □ Continue previous numbering
> □ Numbering off

Checkmarks are used to indicate a toggle state on or off. Makes not much sense here.
Comment 4 John Parker 2019-08-03 10:39:33 UTC
Heiko Tietze says: 
 
(I)   "The submenu is the only possibility to have many items in the context menu. The new structure aligns the list section with paragraph and character styles, which is a big plus."

I don't know what you mean. The menu that opens when you right-click the numbered paragraph already presents many items specific to the paragraph context. For example, 'Paste' and 'Paste Special' only appear if there is content in the clipboard. I can't see why you say that a submenu is the only possibility. For sure, a submenu might help if there are many sub-options.

(II)  "The new structure aligns the list section with paragraph and character styles, which is a big plus."

The old structure (LibreOffice 6.0.7 Writer) did that too.

(III) "Beside customization, could you also consider a slightly different workflow by using the toolbar and/or sidebar?"

The number of mouse actions was the reason for raising this Bugzilla item. The optimum workflow was to right-click the numbered paragraph and select from the menu -- two mouse actions. Using the toolbar requires five mouse actions. (I don't know how you would use the sidebar to start or continue paragraph numbering. How many mouse actions would that involve?)

(IV)  "Checkmarks are used to indicate a toggle state on or off. Makes not much sense here."

Well, checkmarks are in fact used.

Consider the following picture. (https://www.dropbox.com/s/1uidynuz0j0pnrg/step1.png?dl=0)

Here the numbered paragraph for the first step has been right-clicked and 'Bullets and Numbering' selected. Note the tick shown against 'Restart Numbering' in the submenu. I assume that that tick is there to confirm that numbering starts with this paragraph.

Now consider the following picture. (https://www.dropbox.com/s/ldowibgjub7mqol/step2.png?dl=0)

Here the numbered paragraph for the second step has been right-clicked and and 'Bullets and Numbering' again selected. Note that there is still a tick shown against 'Restart Numbering' but no tick is shown against 'Continue previous numbering'. Why? If the purpose of the tick is to confirm that this is a 'continue previous numbering' paragraph, should not the tick be here?

I would like to restate my reason for raising this Bugzilla item. I write lots of procedures. I customize my documents using numbered styles. The styles do all the formatting and numbering work but they have to be manually set to either start from scratch or continue. If a document contains many procedures, I have to start and continue numbering many times. In the past, I could do that with two mouse actions. I never needed to prepare custom menus. For me, the new menu rearrangement is a regression.
Comment 5 V Stuart Foote 2019-08-03 14:46:16 UTC
Ongoing UI redesign is routine. Goals are to make the UI self documenting by its layout, and simplified to not overload novice users, while retaining function for expert users. 

This rework of the Bullets & Numbering dialog and their context menu entries has been just that.

Would point out, that the controls you use from the context menu, are already present 'one' mouse click away on the context sensitive Bullets & Numbering  toolbar, but you may need to adjust visibility. That toolbar can be undocked and positioned where preferred.

Additionally, mnemonic keyboard "accelerators" are available for the controls on the context menus. You may have to show them--requiring no mouse clicks at all--'two' keyboard entries.

Ability to customize the Context menus (i.e. r-mouse click)  was added at the 5.2 release bringing them in line with Toolbars. It is trivial to duplicate (or even relocate)  the two button widgets 'Restart numbering' and 'Continue previous numbering' into the 'Text' target so as to appear on the Context menu--restoring your 'two' mouse click work flow.

Done from Tools -> Customize on the 'Context menu' tab.

Finally, you can reduce your mouse/keyboard use further by assigning a "shortcut" to any of the Numbering actions

Done from  Tools -> Customize on the 'Keyboard' tab.

In other words, the defaults are appropriate to general use, and you as an expert user have multiple alternatives to adjust your work flow.

=> WF