Bug 141574 - [Enhancement Request] More customisation options for Foot-/Endnotes
Summary: [Enhancement Request] More customisation options for Foot-/Endnotes
Status: RESOLVED INSUFFICIENTDATA
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Writer (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
7.1.2.2 release
Hardware: All All
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords: needsUXEval
Depends on:
Blocks: Footnote-Endnote-Properties
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2021-04-08 22:56 UTC by BDF
Modified: 2021-12-08 04:37 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
Design study for the Foot-/Endnote settings window (15.40 KB, image/png)
2021-04-08 22:58 UTC, BDF
Details
'Before' and 'After' was changed (7.92 KB, image/png)
2021-04-08 23:01 UTC, BDF
Details
Wikipedia reference example (22.45 KB, image/png)
2021-04-08 23:02 UTC, BDF
Details
Look of copied endnote (7.20 KB, image/png)
2021-04-08 23:04 UTC, BDF
Details
Animated design study for a 'preview' window (79.11 KB, image/gif)
2021-04-08 23:06 UTC, BDF
Details
Already existing preview window in Writer (52.83 KB, image/png)
2021-04-09 00:38 UTC, BDF
Details
F/E - character style part (105.44 KB, image/png)
2021-05-10 07:03 UTC, Heiko Tietze
Details

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Description BDF 2021-04-08 22:56:11 UTC
Description:
The foot- and endnotes should be more customisable:
- Set general style for foot/endnote
- Set style for in-text footnote link
- Same foot-/endnote can be used multiple times
- Set anchorpoint for endnote
- Preview for style buttons

Steps to Reproduce:
/

Actual Results:
/

Expected Results:
/


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No



Additional Info:
- - - Set general style for foot/endnote - - -
o) See attached image "LibreOffice - Writer - endnote style designstudy.png"
The new things are in red.
The main new thing is the "Style" drop down menu where you could select a style that is included with Writer or maybe add your own (eg. via addons). I personally like how Wikipedia is doing their references so I copied this it's look for my own files. It would be nice if there was a simple and fast way to do this.

- - - Set style for in-text footnote link - - -
o) See attached image "LibreOffice - Writer - endnote style designstudy.png"
With "Before" and "After" you can only define the look of the endnote. With this you can not set a default look for the reference number that is in the text.
o) See attached image "LibreOffice - Writer - endnote style before + after.png"
Here the change was applied, but "Before" and "After" only set the style of the endnote. Maybe there is a way to do the same thing for the in-text reference link. If so, I didn't see it. If it exists, it should maybe controllable from this menu as well. If it does not fit in this tab because it's not an "endnote" there could be another tab to control this setting.
Right now I have to add the style to every reference link in the text which is rather tedious.

- - - Same foot-/endnote can be used multiple times - - -
o) See attached image "LibreOffice - Writer - endnote WP example.png" (how it could be)
o) See attached image "LibreOffice - Writer - endnote same reference.png" (how it currently is)
The idea is to have one reference that can be linked to multiple places in the text without the need of creating a new end-/footnote for each use.
On the Wikipedia page you see three paragraphs. The first and the third one link to the same reference. Both would link to the same entry under the "References" headline. (a) and (b) represent the different uses of the same reference. In Writer I don't know of any way how you could insert an endnote like this (unless you do everything yourself)
The second image shows how it currently is. Even when you copy reference link-text in the file, it creates a new entry even it says the same. If a reference is used multiple times in one text it makes the endnote longer even there is no need for it.

- - - Set anchorpoint for endnote - - -
o) See attached image "LibreOffice - Writer - endnote WP example.png"
This would work the same as "<references/>" on Wikipedia. You can exactly say where you want to have your endnotes. So far it seems like the endnotes are placed on the very last page. I did not find any way to change that. If there is an easy way, it should be represented in the endnote settings menu as well.
It would be nice if you could add an anchor just like the image anchor that you can drag around.
Example: In my current file I do not want to have the endnotes on the very last page, but under a specific headline.

- - - Preview for style buttons - - -
In the Foot-/Endnote settings there is the "Styles" part where you have drop down menus that do something. There is no easy way to tell what it does and what it effects, neither is there an easy way to quickly see the results.
I know there is https://help.libreoffice.org/7.1/en-GB/text/swriter/01/06080200.html?System=WIN&DbPAR=WRITER&HID=modules/swriter/ui/endnotepage/EndnotePage where the settings are described. I don't really understand the information on the page so I have no idea which part it really effects. I tried a couple of settings but they didn't seem to change anything.
o) See attached file "LibreOffice - Writer - endnote preview design study.gif"
It would be nice to have some kind of little preview window that you can clearly see what you are effecting and into what style it would change.
In this GIF I did a small example of what the idea is. As you change values or hover over the box (eg. "Before", "After" and "Start at") the section is highlighted as well as the part of the text or endnote that you are going to change. If you do not change a single character, but the style of an area with a drop down menu on the right, the whole area of effect would be highlighted.
Comment 1 BDF 2021-04-08 22:58:52 UTC
Created attachment 171041 [details]
Design study for the Foot-/Endnote settings window

The changed parts are red.

A drop down menu was added where you could select a new 'style' with which you can change more than one setting at once.
Comment 2 BDF 2021-04-08 23:01:22 UTC
Created attachment 171042 [details]
'Before' and 'After' was changed

The values "Before" and "After" were changed, but they only effect the endnote itself and not the reference link in the text
Comment 3 BDF 2021-04-08 23:02:32 UTC
Created attachment 171043 [details]
Wikipedia reference example

Example of how endnotes/references look like on Wikipedia (including the multiple use of the same reference/endnote text)
Comment 4 BDF 2021-04-08 23:04:30 UTC
Created attachment 171044 [details]
Look of copied endnote

If an endnote is used more than once or just copied it creates a new endnote for each entry even there is no need for it since the text says the same.
Comment 5 BDF 2021-04-08 23:06:40 UTC
Created attachment 171045 [details]
Animated design study for a 'preview' window

When different segments are selected or hovered over, the area is highlighted as well as the part you are going to effect/change.
If a drop down menu/setting changes the style of an area, the area is highlighted.
Comment 6 BDF 2021-04-09 00:38:55 UTC
Created attachment 171047 [details]
Already existing preview window in Writer

By coincidence I saw that the "Insert Caption" option for images already has a preview window.
This does not exactly fit my suggestion, but at least my worries that a preview window is something entirely new to LibreOffice is gone.
Comment 7 Dieter 2021-04-25 05:21:56 UTC
BDF, thank you for your ideas. It's up to the design team to decide about it
cc: Design-Team
Comment 8 Heiko Tietze 2021-05-05 07:53:49 UTC
Please start with a use case like "I want to do <foo> to achieve <bar> but fail because of <baz>". Keep in mind that we are restricted to the open document format and while the styling is quite flexible we can not introduce a per-footnote varying style meaning footnote 1 is assigned to style 1 and footnote 2 to another style (that's what I understand you are asking for).

And please try to comment concisely.
Comment 9 BDF 2021-05-09 16:49:38 UTC
Beeing concisely is not my strength, but I will try.

- Set general style for foot/endnote
I want to change multiple values for foot/endnotes at once to be able to quickly change the look of foot/endnotes. You can do this by hand and one by one. Nothing would hinder you. Though it would be faster and much easier if you could collect a group of changes into a style.

- Set style for in-text footnote link
I want to have all in-text foot/endnote links look the same to achieve a consistent look throughout the entire document without having to change every in-text foot/endnote myself. I do not fail to do so, but I have to do every single foot/endnote by hand. If you have a few dozen in-text foot/endnotes and want to change the style you have to spend some time to change their style. This idea exists as "Before" and "After" but only for out-of-text foot/endnotes at the very end.

- Same foot-/endnote can be used multiple times
I want to use the same out-of-text foot/endnote (eg. a certain book) multiple times without having the exact same foot/endnote several times in the list at the end (eg. endnote 1 would be the same as 3 and 5 even it's the same book). I fail because LO will create a new foot/endnote even when you copy the in-text foot/endnote link. An out-of-text foot/endnote at the end can only link to one in-text foot/endnote. (Unlike eg. Wikipedia does it)

- Set anchorpoint for endnote
I want to do place all my endnotes in a specific location like I can place an image anywhere I want (not so much the footnotes since they will be on the same page as the in-text note anyway). I want to be able to place the endnotes exactly where I want to have them in my document (eg. under a dedicated headline). I fail because the endnotes are always placed on the last new-page by default so I can not even group them under a headline. My current workaround is to group the entire document into a Section and place the endnotes at the very end of said section.

- Preview for style buttons
I want to know what certain options are supposed to change (eg. paragraph, page, text area, endnote area) without reading the full documentation to know which look I would change with the option. Or to see which option I would have to edit to get the result I aim for. Right now I fail because even the english documentation is not something that explains it well enough for me (could be improved). And wild changes in the options seems to not have any effect sometimes (I have no idea if the function is broken or if I try to change something that does not apply to my foot/endnotes).

REPLY:
- per-footnote varying style
That's not what I'm looking for. I want all to look the same and control their look in the foot/endnote options menu. I want to change the look of all footnotes at once without having to edit every in-text foot/endnote.
Comment 10 QA Administrators 2021-05-10 03:58:36 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 11 Heiko Tietze 2021-05-10 07:03:53 UTC
Created attachment 171808 [details]
F/E - character style part

(In reply to BDF from comment #9)
> - Set general style for foot/endnote
> - Set style for in-text footnote link
> - Same foot-/endnote can be used multiple times
If you talk about styles, it's always one operation that affects many places. For foot/endnotes go to Tools > Footnotes and Endnotes... to learn what paragraph and character styles are used (see also https://help.libreoffice.org/7.1/en-US/text/swriter/01/06080100.html). To change these styles I'd use the Stylist sidebar (https://help.libreoffice.org/7.1/en-US/text/swriter/guide/stylist_update.html)
I assume you struggle with the fact that some attributes are changed per paragraph style and other via character style. Plan is to merge the two options into one "Text Style" view.

> - Set anchorpoint for endnote
This has been requested in bug 102835 and bug 58521.

> - Preview for style buttons
You get a preview at the actual styles. If you talk about the Tools > Footnotes and Endnotes... dialog - this is just the assignment of styles to the F/E properties and not meant to modify styles. But a preview would be nice, admitted.
Comment 12 QA Administrators 2021-11-07 04:24:18 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 13 QA Administrators 2021-12-08 04:37:29 UTC
Dear BDF,

Please read this message in its entirety before proceeding.

Your bug report is being closed as INSUFFICIENTDATA due to inactivity and
a lack of information which is needed in order to accurately
reproduce and confirm the problem. We encourage you to retest
your bug against the latest release. If the issue is still
present in the latest stable release, we need the following
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   confirmed the bug to be present

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