[Libreoffice-bugs] [Bug 135104] New: Feedback on Styles Inspector

[bugzilla-daemon at bugs.documentfoundation.org]

https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=135104

            Bug ID: 135104
           Summary: Feedback on Styles Inspector
           Product: LibreOffice
           Version: 7.1.0.0.alpha0+ Master
          Hardware: All
                OS: All
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Severity: normal
          Priority: medium
         Component: Writer
          Assignee: libreoffice-bugs at lists.freedesktop.org
          Reporter: luke.kendall at gmail.com

Okay, so the Styles Inspector is reached via
Tools-> Options -> Advanced -> Enable experimental features
After a restart of LO, there's a new icon for the Styles Inspector under the
Navigator icon in the Manage Styles Dialog

1/
A couple of tiny points:
- It's not resizeable at the moment (the panel is, but not the part displaying
the styles)
- ContinueingPreviousSubTree boolean under Direct Formatting: "continuing" =
tiny typo?

2/
Under Paragraph Styles in my document I have just
> Default Paragraph Style
> Text Body
> Chapter Body
Character Styles

I vaguely remember the suggestion that vertical placement maybe meant the style
was derived from the one above?
Note: without any indentation, there's no problem with showing complex
hierarchies (e.g. when multiple different styles all derive from, say, Text
Body), because a paragraph can't be two different 'leaf' styles.

I still think at least a pixel or few of indentation would make the structure
clearer.

3/
Selecting the TOC, I see the styles change, now listing Index and Contents 1.
So now I can see it shows the styles of the current text.

4/
I'm certain my main text is all in my Chapter Body paragraph style.
But the existing para style text box (up near the top left of the doc window,
under Files, Edit etc.) incorrectly shows Text Body.

I'm also certain the 1st paragraph of each chapter is in my ChapterBdy1st
style.
It too is showing as just Text Body.

* Maybe a bug introduced by the experimental feature?

5/
The para style displayed in the Styles Inspector (SI) APPEARS to show that the
first para of the chapter is Text Body style, simply because Text Body style is
visible and 'unfolded'.

It was only when I scrolled down in the SI I realised that indeed the
inheritance tree now shows
> Default[...]
> Text Body
> Chapter Body
> ChapterBdy1st

* That seems a mild usability problem: having the visible style showing a
parent style rather than the actual style is misleading.
** Suggestion: Show the styles "folded up", not "unfolded" by default:
   in that case you'd very likely see the actual style.
** Suggestion alternative: scroll the SI view to focus on the actual (leaf)
   style, not a parent style

6/
It's super hard to compare styles, because when you click to a different
paragraph the SI refreshes and goes back to its default place.

7/
Direct Formatting is really confusing to me in what it's showing.
I'm in a paragraph of text that I believe has no DF.
The DF section in the SI shows:
Oh. I can't copy and paste that text. So to compare it I'll need to either
laboriously write each one down myself, or take a screenshot. :-(
Okay, I've done that: the 2nd para shows all the same DF but adds one more
thing: "Rsid 304289352"
I don't understand why there are any items under DF because as far as I know I
applied no DF.

8/
I'm also puzzled that ParaStyleName appears under DF. Does that mean because I
have applied a paragraph style the para is somehow now styled by Direct
Formatting?
Selecting the para and clearing DF (Ctrl-M) clears most of those items, even
though they were all properties provided by the paragraph style; to take just
two examples, CharHeight 10.5 and CharFontName Georgia, which were provided by
the paragraph style, not by DF (as far as I'm aware!)

9/
Likewise, very puzzled that the PageStyleName appears under DF.

10/
I have no idea what Character Styles in the SI is; maybe it's not implemented
yet?
Or maybe there are no character styles applied in that paragraph?

11/
It doesn't appear as though Heiko Tietze's suggestion for Find & Replace has
been addressed in this build - having separate Styles and Text tabs for the
different kinds of searches for F&R.

Personal overall assessment:
Looks promising, though it has some usability issues and may be a bit confusing
at present.

HTH!

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