Impressive job with the analysis and the video ;-)

Adding Caolán to this bug’s CC list.

Thanks! Watch out for my other videos too! :D
(I have raised several bugs)

Created attachment 96885 [details]
Please view in SlideShow mode only!

On second thoughts, I made the same presentation as a slide show, with a tiny file size. (Attaching)

Absolutely, this is a worth while UX change! Very nicely presented.

But, where do things stand for a conversion to UI for the Styles & Formatting dialog, is that already in the queue for anyone? Movement on that would impact (need/method) of doing this UX change. Implementing in GTK+ UI would probably take care of the positioning the layout and then just the sequence of the controls would still need to be changed.

Two points: 

1. I have changed the text for each control also (not only the sequence)
2. The movie does not show a rectangle around the "Level" section and "Controls" section. But later on I thought that making such an outline would effectively separate the two groups. (See the odp file for illustration).

One of the advantages of having migrated the dialogs into GTK widgets was the possibility to use Glade, the tool to build the dialogs of GTK and to position widgets in the real-state of the dialog.

Better, you ca do it on the fly in any recent LibreOffice release by just editing the proper .ui file in glade and see the results on refresing the dialog.

The file that contains the refered tab page is this:

<install>/share/config/soffice.cfg/modules/swriter/ui/outlinepositionpage.ui

where <install> is where LibreOffice is installed in your computer.

You can move the widgets in the yard, but you can't add or remove any of them.

Once you get it done and working, you can submit a patch.

Thanks narayanaras, I really like your suggestion.
Cor

Note that the next tab in the dialog box ("Options") also has similar issues.
(see Bug#77115)

From the previous comments, I am guessing that it has attracted attention of coders who know how to apply a quick-fix.

Given this, I would like to draw their attention to a similar issue elsewhere that can be resolved quickly: Please check out Bug#52335.

Thanks in advance!

Forgot to mention that I have added an animated presentation to show the problem and the proposed solution. So please skip the long description and just view the second attachment posted today (an odp file) in slideshow mode.

Adolfo Jayme Barrientos committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "master":

http://cgit.freedesktop.org/libreoffice/core/commit/?id=1d9b9df02d36f3a4135480902e1517501bede6c4

fdo#76937 Improve organization and layout in Position tabs

It will be available in 4.4.0.

The patch should be included in the daily builds available at
http://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More
information about daily builds can be found at:
http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds
Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.

I’ve reorganized the controls following your slideshow. I didn’t change the labels yet, but will do later. Please download a daily build and let me know your feedback.

(In reply to Adolfo Jayme from comment #12)
> I’ve reorganized the controls following your slideshow. I didn’t change the
> labels yet, but will do later. Please download a daily build and let me know
> your feedback.

Thanks so far. Is it OK to set reopened, since you are not yet finished?

I was confused by the summary of the bug, so changed that too.

(I’ve also fixed the equivalent tab in Outline Numbering, for the record.)

I am still deciding what would be the best nomenclature for the controls, but at least the layout and ordering was fixed, which was the main request of this bug; that’s why I set this to fixed. But yeah, it’s fine...

(In reply to Adolfo Jayme from comment #14)

> I am still deciding what would be the best nomenclature for the controls,

Feel free to post ideas for feed back :)

Adolfo Jayme, thanks a ton for these change!
I have posted other usability issues that may interest you as well! :)

I am unable to locate the daily, as there are many versions available.

This site-
http://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/libreoffice-4-3/

...has two subfolders:

Win-x86@42/  
Win-x86@51-TDF/    

Which one should I pick?
What do "@42" and "@51" and "TDF" stand for?

I have 64-bit Windows 8.1 at home and 32-bit Windows 7 at work.

Thanks in advance!

(In reply to narayanaras from comment #16)
> Which one should I pick?
> What do "@42" and "@51" and "TDF" stand for?
Those are the agreed notation designating the Tenderbox build bot posting the build.  See the Wiki here: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Development/Tinderbox

The -TDF designator "The Document Foundation" is assigned to Officialy sponsored TDF Tinderbox(s) that build using the projects release build system(s)--closest to what would eventually be released. TB-51 uses VS2013, TB-47 is still on VS2010 I beleive.

If working with current changes you likely will want to install builds of the master branch http://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/master/

TB@39 builds Windows Debug builds, and hosts corresponding symbols libraries to run WinDbg against. Otherwise TB@42, TB@47 or TB@51 are all about the same--use which ever has a recent build.

Unfortunately, the Windows TB's have been off line for a week because of an issue with packaging the builds. So, to see anything current you would need to spin up a Linux VM and install a current build of master against that--TB@45 or TB@46.

@narayanaras,

Sorry, should have mentioned how to do the installations in parallel, so that a development build does not clobber your stable release build. 

See this Wiki-- https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Installing_in_parallel

I got a Windows version that looks to be latest.

Here's the text from its Help>About: 

Version: 4.3.5.0.0+
Build ID: b4840d3632e4404bee4bd192a7db916cbad3a401
TinderBox: Win-x86@42, Branch:libreoffice-4-3, Time: 2014-11-19_11:59:54

It still has the old layout.

Looks like I'll have to wait! :(

(In reply to narayanaras from comment #19)
> I got a Windows version that looks to be latest.
>
> Version: 4.3.5.0.0+

Note that this was pushed to branch “master” (4.4) and not “libreoffice-4-3”. Also, this bug’s whiteboard indicates “target:4.4.0”.

Created attachment 109812 [details]
Sample to show what changes are needed

Got it!

Version: 4.5.0.0.alpha0+
TinderBox: Win-x86@51-TDF, Branch:MASTER, Time: 2014-11-21_10:18:18
****

I checked out the changes. Although there are changes, IMHO they are not sufficient:

1. move the “at” control to the previous line, (see my odp).
2. Separate the control-groups vertically (see my odp)
3. Insert the title "Preview" above the preview section
4. Visually separate the "Level" and " Position and grouping" groups 

(I am attaching a sample file).

Another problem: The preview panel does not reflect the setting of the "Numbering alignment" control.

I hope you would be resolving Bug#77115 also (it's functionally related to this bug; and its solution is the same as what you have done here).

Thanks in advance!

Apologies for not looking at this earlier, I’ve been very busy last month.

I will change the things you’ve requested, except for the “Preview” heading – we’ve been adding this to several other dialogs, but it only made them bulkier (see, e.g., bug 67395 and bug 73851). Also, it’s kind of obvious that these are previews ;-)

Dear developer,
This bug has been in ASSIGNED status for more than 3 months without any
activity. Resetting it to NEW.
Please assigned it back to yourself if you're still working on this.

Maybe this ticket has become WFM?

(In reply to sdc.blanco from comment #27)
> Maybe this ticket has become WFM?
Or obsolete - good idea. thanks