Bug 158799 - Editing. Have a cell background separate from the document background.
Summary: Editing. Have a cell background separate from the document background.
Status: RESOLVED INSUFFICIENTDATA
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Calc (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
7.5.9.2 release
Hardware: All All
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL: https://ask.libreoffice.org/t/change-...
Whiteboard:
Keywords: needsUXEval
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2023-12-21 01:40 UTC by Michael
Modified: 2024-09-10 14:44 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
Example of a log page image (12.87 KB, image/jpeg)
2023-12-21 14:01 UTC, Michael
Details
Examples showing how having an option to change the background of the cell when entering data, and changing the border of the active cell are beneficial to colour-blind users (82.47 KB, image/jpeg)
2024-01-03 01:54 UTC, Michael
Details
A case at sea with two courses per hour. (27.70 KB, image/jpeg)
2024-01-03 02:08 UTC, Michael
Details

Note You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.
Description Michael 2023-12-21 01:40:07 UTC
I can change the cell background that appears when I’m entering data by setting:

Tools - LibreOffice - Application Colors - Document Background

However, this changes the background of the other nine sheets that are part of the spreadsheet.

It seems having the background of the cell, when in Edit mode, transparent is not feasible. Is it possible, in a future release, to be able to set the background colour of the Edited cell separately from the colour of the Document Background? I.e an option like:

Tools - LibreOffice - Application Colors - Edited Cell Background
Comment 1 Mike Kaganski 2023-12-21 04:45:13 UTC
What is the goal of this? How would it improve workflow of users? Any feature should only ne introduced not just because it is possible, but because it is shown to be an improvement, which is greater than the problems of implementing it, documenting, supporting, and confusing users who don't need it.
Comment 2 Michael 2023-12-21 14:01:40 UTC
Created attachment 191544 [details]
Example of a log page image
Comment 3 Michael 2023-12-21 14:03:22 UTC
We transcribe data from historic Navy logbooks using Calc with the logbook image in the background. It is desirable to have a font that shows up against the image background. However, the font can be difficult to read when entering data against the white background of the cell. Is there a way to change that white colour to some other colour?
Comment 4 Michael 2023-12-21 17:23:27 UTC
I forgot to add: a couple of our transcribers are color-blind which makes it difficult for them to use our default font colors.
Comment 5 Michael 2024-01-03 01:54:05 UTC
Created attachment 191719 [details]
Examples showing how having an option to change the background of the cell when entering data, and changing the border of the active cell are beneficial to colour-blind users

This shows different options a colorblind person has to manipulate colours. It would help these users if they could set the background of the cell when entering data from a colour distinct from the Document Background. Also, if they could set the colour of the border of the active cell. 

I understand that having the image under the cell when entering data is not possible. We get around that by shifting the grid up or down by a row when the data in the cell is very complex. These cases occur when the ship is at sea, and there might be three or possibly four different courses in one hour, with text like this jammed into one cell:

NEbyE1/4E
NEbyE3/4E
NEbyN
NNE
Comment 6 Michael 2024-01-03 02:08:37 UTC
Created attachment 191720 [details]
A case at sea with two courses per hour.

This shows cells with more complex data. We have seen some with four courses per hour. This is just to show the complexities we encounter, and the need to make the process as easy for our transcribers as possible.
Comment 7 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2024-01-04 23:09:33 UTC
I don't think allowing different "Document Background" colours is realistic as it's an app-wide setting, affecting all components.

I see that using cell styles does not help as the background ends up above an image sent to the background.

I can imagine two ways to solve it:
A) Allow setting the "cell edit mode background" colour (or lack thereof) in Application Colours > Spreadsheet (the default being "Automatic" and using the document background unless the cell has a background colour)
B) Allow images as sheet backgrounds, as requested in bug 68359

UX/Design team, what do you think?
Comment 8 Heiko Tietze 2024-01-05 12:52:33 UTC
We have plenty of methods to set colors. For the particular issue, I would insert the picture, send it to the background, define a cell style with a background color, and apply it conditionally with "Cell Value" "does not contain" leaving the value empty. Does this work for you?
Comment 9 Heiko Tietze 2024-01-31 09:15:17 UTC
Missing feedback, I'll close the ticket for now. Feel free to reopen.