The "Format" -> "Character" dialog shows all supported languages in the Language dropdown list; most users will only use very few of these. Selecting a language could be made easier by having a checkbox "Filter list" which restricts the languages shown in the list to the following: - all languages used in the present document - OS display language (keyboard locale?) - LibreOffice display language - (all languages with spellcheck dictionary installed?) - (all languages installed in the e.g. Windows "input languages" bar?)
marked as enhancement request I am not sure whether such a filter is practical (question to the Design and Developer teams), but if yes, it could also list the last used languages in the local LO installation.
*** Bug 122277 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Adding needsUXeval to discuss this.
Sophie, do you think it's acceptable to list only a limited number of languages such as English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, each with no special flavor such as English (U.S.), and have a "more" entry that expands this list showing all options? I think this issue is not just about the character properties dialog but also tools > options, for example.
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #4) > Sophie, do you think it's acceptable to list only a limited number of > languages such as English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, each with no > special flavor such as English (U.S.), and have a "more" entry that expands > this list showing all options? I think this issue is not just about the > character properties dialog but also tools > options, for example. Is there no way to filter this list or to restrict it as the OP suggested it? Having a limited list is always problematic, all languages are equal :)
(In reply to clemty from comment #0) > Selecting a language could be made easier by having a checkbox "Filter list" Type the first character of the language searched, helps too
We discussed this topic in the design meeting. The current situation is clearly a usability issue: huge lists never make sense. It's not a blocker because one can search by typing, but this doesn't affect the list itself. And typing "Engl" still returns all languages and countries. And not all dropdowns have a input field, see tools > options > language > locales. We may also show only the languages that are installed by application option, however user may paste content in alien languages. And it's not clear what "installed language" means. Sorting could help; could be done depending on region/locale. However, not sure this is more acceptable than having a reduced number with more items on demand.
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #7) > And not all dropdowns have a input field, see tools > options > > language > locales. You can search also without input field, just focus the list and start typing. In the edit field you can also type the locale's language tag though, if you happen to know that, which is not possible on the list. > We may also show only the languages that are installed by application > option, however user may paste content in alien languages. And it's not > clear what "installed language" means. Strongly against. Installed languages should not restrict what languages are offered for document *content*. > Sorting could help; could be done depending on region/locale. However, not > sure this is more acceptable than having a reduced number with more items on > demand. The current list is already sorted by language name, I don't see any benefit in sorting it by locale (what sort criteria anyway, the language tag? you'd end up with more or less the same grouping just in a different order illogical for the human eye). Sorting it by region we'd have to assign regions to locales, sometimes even arbitrary (Esperanto, anyone? Is Russia Europe or Asia?) and having English, French and Spanish split over several regions doesn't make sense either. What's the region for Cabécar to look it up? Or Bribri? A treeview might make sense for languages with many locales like English, French, Spanish or Arabic but wouldn't help in general for the outnumbering single language entries. Possible might be to move recently selected/used languages to the top of the list so they stay together for easier switching between different languages. But then again search by typing might be broken if it matched such recent entry that is not sorted into the alphabetical order. Choose your shortcoming.. Anyhow, this might be the best option.