When creating a using pivot tables in LO Calc, it's a relatively jarring experience that takes you out of the workflow of using the spreadsheet. I have some recommendations to improve the workflow. 1) Improvement: Applying changes Current behaviour: Editing the properties of a pivot table requires you to Right-click on the Pivot Table > go to properties > make the changes > then click ok to apply changes which closes the dialog, then If you're not happy with the result you need to start the whole process again. Recommendation: When editing the properties of a pivot table, the changes should be seen immediately without having to click apply or exit the properties dialog. Live updating could be optional to the user, with the option to click apply without exiting the properties dialog. Reason: It takes far too many steps to edit properties and make multiple changes if you're trying to experiment and get the right pivot table. 2) Improvement: Don't lock main window Current behaviour: When editing the properties, the main window of LO Calc is locked from editing. Recommendation: Do not lock the main window when editing the pivot table properties, but keep the pivot table properties on top. Reason: Locking the main window prevents you from making other changes, such as adjusting columns or fonts, or even cell values, which you may want to affect the Pivot Table. 3) Improvement: Allow the Pivot Table Properties to be docked to the side panel Current behaviour: The pivot table properties does not integrate with the main window, and is it's own dialog window. Recommendation: Allow the user to dock the properties to the side panel Reason: This will solve #2 listed above, but will also need improvements from #1 to have it function correctly.
1): sounds like a lot of effort 2): how about a simple "Apply" function? 3): Pivot stuff in the sidebar... sounds interesting
Google Sheets pivot table UI is also sidebar-based, and it works well imho. Take a look at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVlQiVfvpPE to see how it works in their case.
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #1) > 1): sounds like a lot of effort > 2): how about a simple "Apply" function? > 3): Pivot stuff in the sidebar... sounds interesting @Heiko Thanks for your response - though I made no assumption on the effort required - rather just recommendations which would greatly improve the usability of creating said pivot tables.
(In reply to dev from comment #0) > When creating a using pivot tables in LO Calc, it's a relatively jarring > experience that takes you out of the workflow of using the spreadsheet. I > have some recommendations to improve the workflow. > .. Thanks for reporting! Did you have the opportunity to look at existing reports for Pivot Tables? There may be similar probs or reports that you can add useful info too ;)
We discussed the topic in the design meeting and agree with the idea of a sidebar. Adding this would make interactions easier and make the other points obsolete. But actually is the access to the pivot table layout just a click away (context menu > Properties). The new sidebar could be a nice GSoC project; we should provide a mockup for the UI.
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #5) > We discussed the topic in the design meeting and agree with the idea of a > sidebar. Adding this would make interactions easier and make the other > points obsolete. But actually is the access to the pivot table layout just a > click away (context menu > Properties). > > The new sidebar could be a nice GSoC project; we should provide a mockup for > the UI. Thanks for that. I'd love to help out where I can. Yes, putting it in the side bar would help a lot. Though I shouldn't need to go into a context menu to get the properties. What I would like to see is this: * If the side bar has been collapsed by the user, when clicking within the bounds of the pivot table it expands the side bar automatically and shows the properties for the pivot table. Clicking out would collapse the side bar again. * If the side bar is already expanded, when clicking within the bounds of the pivot table, it swaps to the properties for the pivot table. Clicking out would return the side bar back to the previously selected tab (Properties, Styles.. etc)
(In reply to Matty R from comment #6) > * If the side bar has been collapsed by the user... > * If the side bar is already expanded... You make the sidebar a contextual control, which wasn't the goal. I'm afraid of too much noise in the UI when the large sidebar collapses and expands contextually - but worth to discuss anyway. However not related to the Pivot table sidebar but rather a generic enhancement.
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #7) > (In reply to Matty R from comment #6) > > * If the side bar has been collapsed by the user... > > * If the side bar is already expanded... > > You make the sidebar a contextual control, which wasn't the goal. I'm afraid > of too much noise in the UI when the large sidebar collapses and expands > contextually - but worth to discuss anyway. However not related to the Pivot > table sidebar but rather a generic enhancement. Not a problem. I have nothing further to add, thanks for your time.
Matty, can we make this a duplicate of bug 131654, which contains a mockup for an revamped dialog?
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 131654 ***