[Libreoffice-qa] [Libreoffice-ux-advise] F4 in spreadsheet

[Cor Nouws]

Hi Olivier,

Olivier Hallot wrote (27-08-11 02:50)

> In a large company with strong MS culture (how come!) where I serve as
> consultant, I have been contacted to evaluate if LibreOffice could
> consider to assign a better role for F4 key in Calc.
>
> In Microsoft Excel, F4 is "Repeat", while in LibreOffice "Repeat" is
> Ctrl+Shift+Y and F4 is "Open datasource view". Seems that when
> formatting many cells with the same format, "Repeat" on a single key is
> a must...

In the first place they should start learning to use styles. Handier, 
more reliable, and a smaller and faster sheet.
So no need to look any further at the question :-p

Oh wait, you said 'users'.. That changes the situation of course ;-)

> Of course, heavy users of Excel's F4 complains that LO's F4 is useless.
> And Ctrl+Shift+Y is a finger twist that a few can perform (especially
> that it obliges you to have the 2 hands over the keyboard), and thus we
> get rants about LO.
>
> They have a point, I may say.
>
> And If I assign F4 to "Repeat" in LO, I will lower the noise level in a
> migration job, and I can consider a salary raise. lol.

Ah, that's what you deserve any ways ;-)

> So what our UX friends think about moving "Repeat" to F4, "forever"?
> Feasible? Advisable? Recomended?

We already have Tools>Options>Calc>Compatibility, so why not?
One could also argue that Datasource window will be used a bit less in 
Calc (anyway that is what I expect).
On the other hand, changing it in Calc comes with the thought about 
changing it in Writer too for consistency.
And even more ... why change Ctrl-D, F4 and not all the rest :-(

So maybe the best place to start is with this last question?
There is preparation going on for some shift on api level too (you can't 
drag compatibility with you for eternity, isn't it ?) - envisioned for 
version 4.0 or so - so ...

Cheers,


-- 
  - Cor
  - http://nl.libreoffice.org