[Libreoffice-bugs] [Bug 131817] Introduce an option to globally switch toolbar locking on/off

Thu Apr 15 09:04:03 UTC 2021

https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=131817

--- Comment #5 from Ninpodeshi <JerameeSikorski at gmail.com> ---
I just spent a couple hours searching for a solution to this problem and filing
another bug report on it here: 
https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=141702  (Text duplicated
below for convenience.)

Telesto is correct: it's very unintuitive.  Undocking toolbars was never a
problem; locking them by default and making it so difficult to unlock & undock
that one must repeatedly search for support assistance is.

While the suggestions are good, they are only there to fix a problem caused by
"fixing" something that was not broken to begin with.  Just undo the lock by
default and stop making things more complicated.  Whatever is done, PLEASE, do
not do #5!  Locking the toolbars by default is already an unnecessary problem. 
Please do not add to the problems.

Again, the movable and dock-able toolbars, especially when combined with the
sidebar, are some of LO's great innovative features.  Please do not hide these
features by making them inaccessible to new users.

****
PLEASE undo this!
I am trying to be civil, so apologies in advance if this seems harsh.

A Solution in Search of a Problem.

I've used LO for several years and never had an issue with accidental undocking
of toolbars.  Yes, I undocked several when I first started using LO, but that
only made me curious to explore the program. The accidental undockings were
easy to replace when I needed to continue working.  But, when I wasn't pressed
for time, I played with the feature and learned that I could dock toolbars
anywhere I wanted!  By locking them, that natural learning is prohibited. 
Also, as I'll discuss below, the unintuitive method of unlocking the toolbars
makes it unlikely that a new user would ever find it without searching for
online help.  But, then again, the new user would not even know to search out
how to unlock & undock the toolbars because this is a feature unique to LO.
This effectively hides one of LO's most useful and innovative features.  (I
only know of a couple web browsers that even make use of the sides of the
screen for interface commands, and they are nowhere near as useful or versatile
as LO's interface.)

A Solution Creating Problems.

I have had to search how to unlock the toolbars 3 different times now.  When I
right-click on a toolbar, I do not get the pop-up menu unless I right-click
twice.  This is very unintuitive and makes me think I am not doing it right,
which is why I have had to look up how to unlock the toolbars 3 times now.

But then the problems go further.  It is not just the unintuitive
double-right-clicking, but one must double-right-click EACH toolbar separately
in order to unlock them.  Why?  That compiles annoyance on top of annoyance.  

How much annoyance is justified to prevent the perceived problem? 
Double-right-clicking each toolbar is annoying.  Hopefully, I won't forget this
oddity in a month or so when I need a toolbar I haven't used in this install
yet and forget how to unlock them.  I just reinstalled LO, so I will find out
if I must also unlock each separate toolbar on every program, but, honestly,
this is a time wasting annoyance.

Hiding LO's Utility under an Antiquated Interface.

Without the ability to undock a toolbar, the toolbar interface looks like the
old out-of-date MS Office interface. The buttons are either present or absent,
which is no different than the MS pre-Ribbon interface.  For the new user who
is unaware of LO's toolbar versatility, this essentially hides the feature.

 The ability to move LO toolbars around is wonderful.  Combined with the
Sidebar, they allow the user to dedicate more screen space to the document by
placing toolbars to the side.  (To clarify with a contrast, if the toolbars
were placed only on top, they would eat into the vertical space and force the
user to shrink the zoom on the document in order to see it in its entirety.)  I
find this more efficient space use to be a great feature of LO.

Even better, LO allows intuitive toolbar placement.  In Draw, for example, I
maintain the toolbars common to Writer at the top and can place the more Draw
related toolbars on the bottom and side.  This makes it much easier to find the
needed functions.

I came to LO after using Ribbon in MS Office.  I thought the notebook/grouped
bar interface was great when it came out.  (It's still great, btw, and you
folks at LO did a really cool thing by making the different interfaces that
people can choose from.)  Then I decided to update my skills and went through
some LO trainings online.  

The LO trainings introduced me to the Sidebar and really showed me the utility
of the toolbars.  I now vastly prefer the standard toolbar interface to the
grouped bar because of its versatility and utility.  If the toolbars were
locked by default when I first began using LO, I'm not sure I ever would have
discovered this feature, and LO would have just looked like an Antiquated MS
copy instead of the unique and innovative office suite that it is.

In summary, this change does little to nothing to fix any perceived problem. 
It does however, create annoyances and problems for users while hiding one of
LO's most intuitive and versatile features.  Please, please, please, change it
back.

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