[Libreoffice-qa] Automatic Formatting _Underline_ /Italics/ *Bold* -Strikethrough-

[Marc Paré]

Someone on a list other than LibreOffice pointed out that the initial
settings in AutoCorrect are set with the following formatting
feature-default of, when you type:
_CausesTextToBeUnderlined_  /CausesTextToBeItalicized/  
*CausesTextToBeBold  -CausesTextToBeStruckThrough-

As I would see this more of a formatting "feature" and not of a
formatting "correction", I wonder if the initial user-default with these
switched ON makes sense. To me, such a "feature" would be best
rationalized as a feature one would offer to a user wishing to use
keyboard alternatives to the conventional Ctrl-B, Ctrl-U etc switches.

I wonder if, from a regular user point of view, it would make better
sense to have the initial settings in "Tools-->AutoCorrect-->AutoCorrect
Options-->Options" set with these switches OFF (default). This would
then mean that, should a user start typing a URL such as /home/test,
that user would not continually have to battle to rid him/herself of the
"home" being formatted into an italics "home" and not being allowed to
complete the URL without being formatting before typing the complete
line as is. I would argue, that, setting the switches to the OFF
position as the LibreOffice default, would return a format that one
would expect when typing any stings such as /home/test etc.

Having these switches turned ON as the LibreOffice default, from the
point of view of a regular-user wishing to adopt the LibreOffice suite,
returns a behaviour that is NOT expected, and, raises the level of
frustration a little more as to deciding whether to adopt the suite or
expecting to trouble-shoot an issue where the result goes contrary to
what one would expect.

I wonder if we could re-consider the ON-default and leave these switches
to the OFF position?

This would then give a better result of, where more-advanced-users,
wishing to adopt the LibreOffice suite, and, wanting to expand
formatting switches, being pleasantly surprised that these switches
exist (a positive reaction), rather than what we presently have, where,
a regular-user wishing to adopt the LibreOffice suite, experiencing the
unpleasant auto-correction switches formatting text in a way that is not
expected (a negative reaction) and making that user doubt his/her choice
of LIbreOffice adoption.

Leaving new-LibreOffice adopters with a good impression, with very few,
if any, complaints would seem to be a good goal; making the initial
default to the OFF position, in my opinion, a good change.

Marc

-- 
Marc Paré
marc at marcpare.com
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