Created attachment 174930 [details]
5 screenshots, 3 of LibreOffice & 2 of another word processor's simplicity

Hello.  The current version 7.1.5.2 of LibreOffice Writer has a very complicated way of setting up the indentations of an outline when the text has to be indented for each outline level.  Maybe it's been this way many versions going back in time but this is the first version I've used after recently downloading it.  For as many years as computers have been around, and for the triumph that LibreOffice makes itself sound to be over typical office suites, it is surprising that the indentations or tab stops of each outline level have to be figured out by either measuring with a tape measure or ruler, or else by trial-and-error of first trying a set of distances and then typing test paragraphs and printing it out to see how they look and then using a ruler to determine the necessary corrections.  Because the visual representation underneath all those fields in the Bullets And Numbering dialog on the tab "Position" aren't a true and exact representation.

It would seem that a very workable solution would be to let the user decide on whatever tab interval they want and let that be in the paragraph style, then the number itself of each outline level is simply placed at each subsequent tab stop.  Then, the simplicity of what I am suggesting is that the text for each outline level is indented to the subsequent tab stop following the number, at whatever inch/centimeter distance that would happen to be at since the tab stops are in the style.  Just automatically, the text is indented to the next tab stop following the number, automatically, without anything having to be specified in the dialog of "Bullets And Numbering" on the tab of "Position".  Actually, this suggestion of mine of indenting of text automatically to the next tab stop following the outline level number, makes that tab of "Position" to be unnecessary, just delete that tab from the dialog, and get those indenting measurements for each outline level from the tabs that are set in the Paragraph Syle.  Yes it would be many changes in the programming source code, but holy crap would this ever be a huge improvement in simplicity and ease of use. :-)

If the outline level number is, for example, "3.4.1.5" then the text is indented to the tab stop that comes after that number, whatever that tab stop would be since it is in the Paragraph Style.

The attached Zipfile has 5 screenshots:
1) The end results of an outline's numbering/position settings.
2) Outline Level 3 in the dialog.  If a number greater than zero is used for the indent, why not use that as the distance of the tab stop after the end of the outline level number?
3) Outline Level 4 in the dialog.  Why can't at least using zero mean to keep the text indented at the tab stop that follows the outline level number?  This really is very complex and time consuming.  None of these fields have to be used to accomplish a good looking outline, so even that suggestion is unnecessary.

4) Another word processor's dialog and its simplicity.
5) The end results of that other word processor's simple dialog, without having to calculate and type in measurements into a bunch of fields for each separate outline level.