Bug 169102 - Provide sidebar expansion/closure button to Standard Toolbar and the NotebookBar assemblages
Summary: Provide sidebar expansion/closure button to Standard Toolbar and the Notebook...
Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: LibreOffice (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
unspecified
Hardware: All All
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks: Sidebar-UI-UX
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2025-10-27 17:25 UTC by Danat
Modified: 2025-12-18 07:25 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
Sidebar button idea (152.99 KB, image/png)
2025-10-27 17:26 UTC, Danat
Details

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Description Danat 2025-10-27 17:25:35 UTC
Description:
Right now it's so thin that clicking on it isn't very comfortable, to be honest. I'm not speaking for everyone, but I wish this button was definitely different than it is right now

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Click on the sidebar button
2.
3.

Actual Results:
Hard to aim at it

Expected Results:
Bulkier and more noticeable button


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No

Additional Info:
On the attached screenshot
Comment 1 Danat 2025-10-27 17:26:01 UTC
Created attachment 203573 [details]
Sidebar button idea
Comment 2 V Stuart Foote 2025-10-27 20:36:41 UTC
You are not showing the "Ribbon" MUFFIN NotebookBar 'Tabbed' UI, rather that is the Standard Toolbar.

The button you've indicated are the paired 'Hide'/'Show' exposure "triangles" resident at the edge of the Notebookbar when enabled active <Ctrl>+<F5>.

Currently the <Ctrl>+<F5> will toggle the Sidebar Deck active or inactive--its state will be one of three: Decks fully exposed, SB Tabs only, Hidden (just the 'Show' triangle). 

The <F11> will open the SB view to fully exposed on the Styles deck. While with the SB active (exposed, tabs or collapsed), the <Alt>+1... <Alt>+9 keys will open specific deck fully exposed.

Replacing the 'Hide'/'Show' exposure "triangles" with buttons on the Standard toolbar, or in one of the MUFFIN NotebookBar UNO assemblages doesn't seem especially useful if done alone.

Maybe possible with some addition/revision implementing TB/NB buttons for the Sidebar deck UI.
Comment 3 V Stuart Foote 2025-10-27 22:03:04 UTC
> resident at the edge of the Notebookbar when enabled active

Sorry, finger-flub--make that should have read:

resident at the edge of the Sidebar when enabled active
Comment 4 Danat 2025-10-27 22:38:17 UTC
(In reply to V Stuart Foote from comment #2)
> You are not showing the "Ribbon" MUFFIN NotebookBar 'Tabbed' UI, rather that
> is the Standard Toolbar.
> 
> The button you've indicated are the paired 'Hide'/'Show' exposure
> "triangles" resident at the edge of the Notebookbar when enabled active
> <Ctrl>+<F5>.
> 
> Currently the <Ctrl>+<F5> will toggle the Sidebar Deck active or
> inactive--its state will be one of three: Decks fully exposed, SB Tabs only,
> Hidden (just the 'Show' triangle). 
> 
> The <F11> will open the SB view to fully exposed on the Styles deck. While
> with the SB active (exposed, tabs or collapsed), the <Alt>+1... <Alt>+9 keys
> will open specific deck fully exposed.
> 
> Replacing the 'Hide'/'Show' exposure "triangles" with buttons on the
> Standard toolbar, or in one of the MUFFIN NotebookBar UNO assemblages
> doesn't seem especially useful if done alone.
> 
> Maybe possible with some addition/revision implementing TB/NB buttons for
> the Sidebar deck UI.

Neither ctrl+f5, nor this button are ideal

ctrl and f5 are far apart on a keyboard, and this button is too thin to aim at
Comment 5 Heiko Tietze 2025-10-28 09:05:39 UTC
Me was never a fan of this button and suggest to remove it. User can close the current tab and get to a semi-collapsed state. And the hamburger menu allows to open the sidebar again.

We have more than three states: open / hidden (ctrl+f5 toggles this), closed (the tab bar is still visible), and minimized (only the "show/hide" button discussed here is visible).

Previous discussion in bug 116298 - "Hide/Show grips of Sidebar decks are too intrusive", Bug 161037 - "UNO Sidebar 'Hide' and 'Show' sidebar deck (splitwin) -- a new function (available for assigning a shortcut key to it)" both were resolved WF, Bug 145170 - "Anomalous Behaviour Concerning Mixing Ctrl+F5 Keyboard Shortcut and Hide/Show Panel Button", Bug 137118 - "Sidebar: Remove the minimized state (only the small show/hide button is visible)" are active 

Related Bug 95347 - "Store sidebar state (normal, collapsed, hidden) per module" - active, and, just to mention it, the current form of the minimize button was introduced for Bug 83527 - "SIDEBAR: Show sidebar button should be a different color".

My summary: duplicate of bug 137118.
Comment 6 Danat 2025-10-28 13:08:41 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #5)
> Me was never a fan of this button and suggest to remove it. User can close
> the current tab and get to a semi-collapsed state. And the hamburger menu
> allows to open the sidebar again.
> 
> We have more than three states: open / hidden (ctrl+f5 toggles this), closed
> (the tab bar is still visible), and minimized (only the "show/hide" button
> discussed here is visible).
> 
> Previous discussion in bug 116298 - "Hide/Show grips of Sidebar decks are
> too intrusive", Bug 161037 - "UNO Sidebar 'Hide' and 'Show' sidebar deck
> (splitwin) -- a new function (available for assigning a shortcut key to it)"
> both were resolved WF, Bug 145170 - "Anomalous Behaviour Concerning Mixing
> Ctrl+F5 Keyboard Shortcut and Hide/Show Panel Button", Bug 137118 -
> "Sidebar: Remove the minimized state (only the small show/hide button is
> visible)" are active 
> 
> Related Bug 95347 - "Store sidebar state (normal, collapsed, hidden) per
> module" - active, and, just to mention it, the current form of the minimize
> button was introduced for Bug 83527 - "SIDEBAR: Show sidebar button should
> be a different color".
> 
> My summary: duplicate of bug 137118.

To avoid confusion, this suggestion isn't the same as mine. They'd like to remove the expansion or closure of the sidebar, and I definitely want t keep them. Calling mine a duplicate of it is unfair. But I agree that the button is bad. It should be redesigned and moved to a better place. You may draw inspiration from web browsers such as Edge who get this right

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lNIXLguY3fCJRaVqzcSbf0zNs704DL0D/view?usp=sharing
Comment 7 Heiko Tietze 2025-12-18 07:25:24 UTC
We discussed the topic in the design meeting.

The sidebar handling is overly complex with several states but supports different workflows on the other hand. The button itself was never an issue for people in the meeting (nor I'm aware of similar reports), and the sidebar opens on clicking anywhere in the collapsed state. Plus, the color on hover was changed recently (bug 169657). All together this proposal might have some charm (placing at the right-most end of the toolbar is not possible but it could be added to the statusbar), but it does not solve the actual over-engineering issue (which is not accepted by everyone). => NAB