[Libreoffice-bugs] [Bug 63374] calc gives no visual clue about enter/edit cell mode

[bugzilla-daemon at bugs.documentfoundation.org]

https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=63374

Severo Raz <severoraz at gmail.com> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
         Resolution|WONTFIX                     |---
             Status|RESOLVED                    |REOPENED

--- Comment #9 from Severo Raz <severoraz at gmail.com> ---
Here is a request that the UX Team please consider my points on why this is
actually a valuable feature.

For the sake of clarity, let's call the mode where arrow keys move the cell
cursor "cell-cursor mode" and the mode where arrow keys permit navigation
within the edited text "text-cursor mode".  Let's say that they're both cursor
modes.   Let's call the cell whose formula you're editing "formula cell".

These cursor modes are relevant when you are editing the formula of a
particular cell.  While cell-cursor mode is the default when you start entering
a formula into a cell by pressing "=" and is very useful for referencing nearby
cells by navigating towards them with the arrow keys, text-cursor mode is
necessary for modifying previously entered parts of your formula.  Even if you
never make mistakes when entering your formulae, you might need text-cursor
mode to make modifications to formulae if you want to use them for a slightly
different purpose elsewhere.

Now, if while entering the formula in a cell, you happen to switch
back-and-forth between text-cursor and cell-cursor modes several times, it is
not impossible that you'll forget which mode you're on.  This is where a visual
indication of what mode you're in would be useful.  Having it is not
_essential_, but certainly can improve the user experience: if you think you're
in text-cursor mode and press an arrow key, but you're really in cell-cursor
mode, you will insert at least 3 characters (the address of the cell which your
cell-cursor presently points at) in the formula cell which you will have to
delete.  Having a visual indication can prevent this, arguably without
negatively impacting user experience.

Now, I don't think MS Excel's approach is actually that useful: in the past
I've preferred winging it and possibly deleting some characters than looking at
the status bar to see which mode I'm in.  (I've criticised in the past when
people have argued that a feature shall not be implemented in LO simply because
MS Excel doesn't have it.)

I think some not terrible ways to implement this cursor mode visual indicator
would be:

* Changing the cursor in the cell formula between a line and a block, where a
block cursor indicates you're in cell-cursor mode.
* Adding a border to the formula cell, albeit one styled differently than the
cell-cursor border. For example, the formula cell border during cell-cursor
mode could have a dashed stroke.
* Changing the background color of the formula cell slightly according to the
cursor mode.
* Adding arrow icons in all four directions of the cell under the cell-cursor
while on cell-cursor mode; removing these icons while in text-cursor mode.

Anyway, these are just some ideas. I'm sure the UX team can come up with
something better.

Sorry for the long comment.

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