Bug 81908 - Use macOS “Sheets” style for dialog boxes
Summary: Use macOS “Sheets” style for dialog boxes
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: UI (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
Inherited From OOo
Hardware: Other macOS (All)
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords: needsDevEval, topicUI
Depends on:
Blocks: macOS-UI-polish
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2014-07-30 09:09 UTC by Emir Sarı
Modified: 2021-02-09 14:03 UTC (History)
9 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
MS Word dialog box (53.24 KB, image/png)
2014-07-30 09:09 UTC, Emir Sarı
Details

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Description Emir Sarı 2014-07-30 09:09:53 UTC
Created attachment 103674 [details]
MS Word dialog box

Native OS X apps include a drawer-style "Save Before Exit" dialog which slides down from the main toolbar/window bar. It would be cool for LO to include these instead the standalone dialog box model.
Comment 1 Adolfo Jayme Barrientos 2014-07-30 14:51:28 UTC
A valid enhancement request. These “sheet”-style dialogs are cool.
Comment 2 retired 2014-07-30 19:21:59 UTC
yes, please :)
Comment 3 Thorsten Wagner 2020-08-09 18:16:03 UTC
See comment on

https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/c/core/+/94247
Comment 4 Thorsten Wagner 2020-08-09 18:19:06 UTC
To sum up: Implementation is possible, but macOS do not support nested sheets (at least by style guide). There are many nested modal dialogs. These dialogs have to be redesigned only one level deep (but that is another topic which would increase usability too). UX eval is required.
Comment 5 Heiko Tietze 2020-08-31 07:42:55 UTC
(In reply to Thorsten Wagner from comment #4)
> UX eval is required.
Keywords += needsUXEval, CC += libreoffice-ux-advise@lists.freedesktop.org, 

You named the requirement: dialogs must not stack deeper than one level. While this sounds desirable in general it means to rework 75% of the UI, change most workflows, and adds a lot of effort for just a small improvement. 

If we stop trying to mimic OS/DE look and feel and develop only one VCL much man power can be saved and users get a more polished UI.
Comment 6 Thorsten Wagner 2020-08-31 21:49:04 UTC
I totaly agree. Dialogs should be designed in a way as simple as possible without violating any of the different OS/DE style guides.

As sheets are macOS specific, this is no general way to go. I see two possibilities:

(1) Drop the idea of using sheets

(2) Change the criterion for using sheets: Not for modal dialogs, but for simple dialogs, e.g. "Save Yes/No/Cancel" of "Tips" and things like that only. I would be possible to implement this by introducing a dialog attribute on a per dialog basis, which is ignored by non macOS backends.

BTW: However for new dialogs nesting should be avoided if possible, because nested dialogs are not very handy. There are currently some dialogs with tree nesting levels which are very hard to use.

BTW: Style guides for all backends (including macOS) should be taken into account prior to implementing new dialogs. For example, the new Area dialog with buttons inside to switch between pages causes poor code within VCL. Uncommon button states had to be introduced, which are not style guide compliant (at least for macOS, but probably for GTK, Qt, and Windows too).

My personal opinion: Keep it simple will create a polished UI best.
Comment 7 Heiko Tietze 2020-09-01 09:42:46 UTC
(In reply to Thorsten Wagner from comment #6)
> My personal opinion: Keep it simple will create a polished UI best.

Absolutely. And if #2 is easy to realize we should do this. Load/Save and confirmations will make users feel home.
Comment 8 Xisco Faulí 2021-02-09 14:03:01 UTC
Dear Thorsten Wagner,
This bug has been in ASSIGNED status for more than 3 months without any
activity. Resetting it to NEW.
Please assign it back to yourself if you're still working on this.