Bug 140655 - Page naming "right" and "left" is wrong for right-to-to left documents should be "odd" and "even"
Summary: Page naming "right" and "left" is wrong for right-to-to left documents should...
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Writer (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
Inherited From OOo
Hardware: All All
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks: Page-Style-Dialog
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Reported: 2021-02-24 23:22 UTC by Regina Henschel
Modified: 2024-08-19 09:54 UTC (History)
8 users (show)

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Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
Right-to-left document with alternating page styles for odd and even pages (11.94 KB, application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.text)
2021-02-24 23:22 UTC, Regina Henschel
Details

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Description Regina Henschel 2021-02-24 23:22:04 UTC
Created attachment 170041 [details]
Right-to-left document with alternating page styles for odd and even pages

Page arrangement with alternating "right" and "left" pages is currently really confusing for RTL documents. I think, that the problems come in because the wording "Right page" and "Left page" is used as page style names.

When you read "Left page" as "Odd page" and "Right page" as "Even page", it becomes better. So the first page of a document is a "Odd page".

Same when you set the margins in the style dialog. Although your first page will be on the left side in RTL, you have to select "Only right". Here too it would be better to label it "Only odd". That would be neutral in regard to writing direction.

The section "Margins" has physical positions for the margins for "Only right" and "Only left". So here the terms "Left" and "Right" are correct. The error for layout "mirrored" is tracked in bug 94847.

You can see the resulting page arrangements, when you switch to "Book view". Use the attached file.

So my request is:
Rename page style
  "Right page" to "Odd page"
  "Left page" to "Even page"
Perhaps that could be done not with internal names, but on translation level?

In "Page layout" in section "Layout Settings" on tab "Page" in page style dialog rename
  "Only right" to "Only odd"
  "Only left" to "Only even"

Tested with Version: 7.2.0.0.alpha0+ (x64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 85a74ebd929d6396daf591a01f79758888fd7e4f
CPU threads: 8; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19041; UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: de-DE (en_US); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded
Comment 1 Heiko Tietze 2021-02-25 10:09:45 UTC
But the left page is still left, it's just the number that is odd. I'm a bit afraid of renaming Left Page to Odd Page since many users are familiar with the term.

But OTOH, bug 94847 has a point.
Comment 2 Regina Henschel 2021-02-25 11:54:01 UTC
Or name it "front page" and "back page". On the other hand, we have "Odd pages" and "Even pages" already in the print dialog.
Comment 3 Regina Henschel 2021-02-25 22:56:05 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #1)
> But the left page is still left, it's just the number that is odd.

If you use page style "Left page", you get the page layout setting "Only left". If you now set the writing mode to "right-to-left", right pages with even numbers are generated. The style "Left page" does not generate left pages in RTL but right pages, and that is confusing.

> I'm a bit
> afraid of renaming Left Page to Odd Page since many users are familiar with
> the term.

If you hesitate to change the name of the page style and of the items in the drop-down field of the page layout in general, then there should be a hint to translators, that in a "right-to-left" environment the term "Left page" should be translated to "Even page" or "Back page", because that page style is actually generating even pages in "right-to-left" environment. And same for the drop-down, "Only left" should be translated to "Only odd pages" or "Only back pages" in "right-to-left" environment

The "Left page" generates "even pages" in LTR too, but in LTR the term "Left page" is not confusing, because it is actually a left page.

But I have to admit, I don't know whether, and if so where, you can include such hints.
Comment 4 Heiko Tietze 2021-03-04 08:56:27 UTC
We discussed this topic in the design meeting. And while left/right in some case are wrong and in most/all other at least inappropriate (there is no left-of thing, it's always the even/odd page number), renaming has a string of consequences. 

The mentioned page styles, page layout settings, same content on ... at header/footer etc. Just renaming the page style seems too narrowly considered.
Comment 5 Eyal Rozenberg 2022-06-27 14:02:29 UTC
First, Left page or Right page is just wrong terminology; you probably mean front-facing / back-facing (i.e. recto vs verso).

Now, It's true that if recto/verso switches with every page, then you can treat "Odd" vs "Even" page; and that in RTL, by default, the gutter is at the right edge of a recto page and left of a verso, and in LTR it's vice-versa. But I'm not sure I want to use Odd and Even as surrogate terms here.

See also my comment in 140568.
Comment 6 Eyal Rozenberg 2023-02-10 14:17:03 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 7 Eyal Rozenberg 2023-03-17 13:22:30 UTC
I disagree. That is, now only is "Left Page" and "Right Page" wrong because of RTL - there is no guarantee that Right Page's are odd and Left Page's are even. For example: I could define a Page Style named Foo, for which the next style is "Right Page". When using it (and with a single section page), the first Right Page will be even, not odd.

Personally, I suggest removing these two from the default list - they do more harm than good; and some of their functionality is available via a single page style's alternating footer and spacing settings.
Comment 8 Eyal Rozenberg 2023-03-17 13:24:41 UTC
Given my earlier comment, I believe this bug should probably be switched from NEW to UNCONFIRMED. What say you?
Comment 9 David 2023-03-27 21:46:49 UTC
(In reply to Eyal Rozenberg from comment #7)
>For example: I could define a Page Style named Foo, for which the next
> style is "Right Page". When using it (and with a single section page), the
> first Right Page will be even, not odd.
Please attach a document that demonstrates the problem.
Comment 10 Heiko Tietze 2024-04-16 07:57:59 UTC
*** Bug 160686 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 11 Eyal Rozenberg 2024-04-16 20:37:25 UTC
I now believe this bug should be marked INVALID, and have opened bug 160686 to promote the removal of these styles.
Comment 12 Eyal Rozenberg 2024-04-22 11:56:30 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)