[Libreoffice-ux-advise] [Libreoffice] Suggestion and patch for "Confirmation of save format" dialog

[Christoph Noack]

Hi Josh, Regina, Astron!

Josh, thanks for the patch and the screenshot - the latter makes
evaluating things for "less developers" (tm) like myself very quick and
easy.

Am Donnerstag, den 11.08.2011, 12:29 +0930 schrieb Josh Heidenreich:
> Hi All,
> 
> I have made some additional changes to the dialog. I am considering
> these changes stage 1 of the process.
> 
> Screenshot:
> http://thejosh.info/libreoffice/export_format_v2.png
> 
> I have attached a patch also.

Already an improvement, I think. Since I lack a bit time this morning
(should already be on the way to improve usability at work *g*), I want
to just add some details to my initial proposal.

Concerning the buttons - similar to Astron, I thought about using the
document file types both in the text (full description plus file
extension), and in the buttons (only the extension) - but we just turn
the understandability problem into another one.

Hence, my question whether a "semi-automatic" extraction of short
versions of the file type will work for buttons, e.g. n=20:
      * If the length of the description is <= n, then use the full
        description. ("Microsoft PowerPoint" --> "Microsoft PowerPoint")
      * If the length of the description is > n, and the first n
        characters contain several words, then use all whole words in
        this n characters. ("HTML-Document (OpenOffice.org)" -->
        "HTML-Document")
      * If the length of the description is > n, and the first n
        characters contain one word only, then use the first n-3
        characters and add "..." (don't know any example, just for
        stability reasons)

Mmh, although it makes the code more complex - it would at least allow
to use all mechanisms and data we have to provide something meaningful
in the dialog ... although I'm for simple solutions, I think it would be
helpful for those use cases I'm aware of.

Another thing I've thought about is "keep", "use anyway", ... Only the
visual marker on the button reveals the default choice in the dialog
(grrr, different to LibreOffice ODF default - didn't notice that) - so
my take is to address this via:
[Use WhatEver Format] [Switch to ODF Format]

Last question: I know that almost no message box makes use of it - but
is there a chance to turn the header text into something useful?

Cheers,
Christoph

PS: Since you've started to discuss the message boxes, I see this as a
chance to document general design recommendations afterwards. So sorry
and thanks at the same time for your precious time :-)