Bug 62554 - Some Format menu Split buttons should be disabled (greyed out) when not contextually applicable
Summary: Some Format menu Split buttons should be disabled (greyed out) when not conte...
Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: UI (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
unspecified
Hardware: Other All
: low enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords: needsDevEval, needsUXEval
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2013-03-20 11:23 UTC by Pedro
Modified: 2017-08-02 13:21 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

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Description Pedro 2013-03-20 11:23:59 UTC
When text in Writer and cells in Calc are selected it makes no sense that options Anchor, Arrange, Flip, Group and Graphic in the Format menu are active.

Therefore they should be disabled (greyed out)

Only when a Graphic object is selected these options should be available.

Currently the menu options are available but the submenu options are disabled..

See https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=42807
Comment 1 A (Andy) 2014-09-27 18:29:01 UTC
for me not reproducible with LO 4.3.2.2 (Win 8.1)

Does this issue still persist for you or anybody else with the latest release of LO?  Otherwise, we could maybe close this issue as resolved.
Comment 2 Pedro 2014-09-27 23:14:29 UTC
(In reply to comment #1)
> for me not reproducible with LO 4.3.2.2 (Win 8.1)

I don't have 4.3.2 yet but I can reproduce it in 4.3.1.2
 
> Does this issue still persist for you or anybody else with the latest
> release of LO?  Otherwise, we could maybe close this issue as resolved.

The issue persists in 4.3.1.2
Comment 3 QA Administrators 2015-10-14 19:56:34 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 4 V Stuart Foote 2015-12-02 13:39:42 UTC
Over to UX-advise to review.

Issue is not limited to selection of Graphic objects as noted by OP, rather it is with the default contextual state of the Split buttons placed on the top level menus.

Believe UI/UX question should be: "Should Split buttons on menus be context aware to the context of their child buttons?"

With current LibreOffice master, in the UI Split buttons on the menu are active** regardless of contextual applicability of child widgets contained on the menu (buttons, or additional split buttons, etc.).

Menu and Split button Behavior is consistent across the UI.  If pursued, it would need to be implemented for all Split buttons.  

IMHO see no substantive reason to refactor--especially piecemeal.

Would move to resolve wontfix.

=--=

** behavior of the Edit -> Object Split button (controlling OLE elements) seems an anomaly as implemented.
Comment 5 Pedro 2015-12-02 14:31:35 UTC
(In reply to V Stuart Foote from comment #4)
> Issue is not limited to selection of Graphic objects as noted by OP, rather
> it is with the default contextual state of the Split buttons placed on the
> top level menus.
> 
> Believe UI/UX question should be: "Should Split buttons on menus be context
> aware to the context of their child buttons?"

Good point. In fact this also happens for "Split buttons" in Microsoft software so probably this is a limitation.

> Would move to resolve wontfix.

I agree. Feel free to close it.
Comment 6 Robinson Tryon (qubit) 2015-12-10 07:26:43 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 7 Robinson Tryon (qubit) 2016-08-25 04:44:53 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 8 Heiko Tietze 2017-08-02 13:21:36 UTC
It's common good practice to let the user know what's disabled in hierarchies such as page/tab controls or in menus. So the answer to "Should Split buttons on menus be context aware to the context of their child buttons?" is  yes - the default function can be disabled - and no in case of 'menu buttons' that do not have a default action but always pop-up a menu that may contain only disabled items.

=> WF