Bug 89121 - Implement floating objects
Summary: Implement floating objects
Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Writer (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
4.3.3.2 release
Hardware: Other All
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2015-02-04 13:44 UTC by Frederic Parrenin
Modified: 2015-02-12 17:02 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

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Description Frederic Parrenin 2015-02-04 13:44:04 UTC
When working on a big document, the placement of figures (or frames) is a complicated task. You want to avoid large white spaces at the end of the pages just before the figure, yet you want your figures to be as close as possible to the related paragraph. Currently, you have to do that by hand. But if you decide to insert a paragraph somewhere in your document, all the placements of your figures are now wrong and you have to redo it manually.
It would be really a plus if writer would implement an automatic smart placement of figures. Latex does this, so maybe there are good ideas to take from it.
Comment 1 Cor Nouws 2015-02-04 14:07:10 UTC
Hi Frederic,

Thanks for writing and using LibreOffice
If you anchor an image to the page, it will not shift when there is text added or removed. I think that helps?
And there are more options, e.g. various styles for images that take care for position.
Pls try to fiddle that out first. There is great user support:
  http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/community-support/

If you have a specific and clearly worked out example of a possible improvement: please com back an write it here.
For now I close as WorksForMe.

Cheers,
Cor
Comment 2 Frederic Parrenin 2015-02-04 14:37:02 UTC
Anchoring the image to the page does not work if you insert a large section of text (e.g., several pages). Then the figure would be out of place.
The current options for figure placement, as far as I have tested, cannot solve this problem of white spaces. You need a more flexible paragraph anchoring mechanism: the figure does not have to be directly besides the paragraph, it just has to be as close as possible while eliminating the white spaces. It is what is called "floating figures" in latex.
It is a known limitation of LO with respect to latex (I work in the academic field) and I sincerely hope it will be solved one day.
Some explanation on how it works in latex are given here:
http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/39017/how-to-influence-the-position-of-float-environments-like-figure-and-table-in-lat
If you need, I can provide a concrete example of such a large text document with figure to better understand the problem.
If this bug has not been already reported, it is in my opinion not a good idea to close it.
Comment 3 Cor Nouws 2015-02-04 21:13:36 UTC
Hi Frederic,

Maybe I closed to fast. But.. handling of images is a very complex thing in the code too. See for example #tdf 87720 ..
and another example here
   http://blogs.office.com/2012/09/19/working-with-images-gets-simpler-in-the-new-word/

Now, indeed, if you have a specific, clearly outlined case and proposal, that maybe also fits in other discussions in this area, it is welcome fore sure.
But if it is not specific enough, it will get little attention I'm afraid and has the risk of distracting people looking at image related issues.

So yes ..?

Best, Cor
Comment 4 Frederic Parrenin 2015-02-05 16:37:42 UTC
Hi Cor,
I certainly do understand that dealing with this kind of issue is not trivial in the LO code base.
But when you deal with large documents containing images (e.g., reports), it would be a real plus to implement such kind of "floating objects" like it exists in latex. It would save a lot of publishing time.
My concrete proposal is to look at the latex engine and to implement such kind of floating objects in LO.
Comment 5 Cor Nouws 2015-02-05 21:41:54 UTC
(In reply to Frederic Parrenin from comment #4)

> My concrete proposal is to look at the latex engine and to implement such
> kind of floating objects in LO.

Sorry, I lack time to dive into that.
 Maybe someone else can do it?
( I provide a part from my time to bug triage and helping people to find their way.)
Comment 6 Frederic Parrenin 2015-02-06 08:46:06 UTC
I change the title to precise a bit my request.
Comment 7 Cor Nouws 2015-02-12 16:09:05 UTC
Hi Frederic,

By the way, to release a bit of the pain until this is picked up: try anchoring to a character, and make sure vertical (choose e.g. above, center, below) is set in relation to line/character. Makes the image flow with..
Regards,
Cor
Comment 8 Frederic Parrenin 2015-02-12 17:02:32 UTC
Thanks for the trick!