Minutes from the UX/design meeting 2025-Aug-21

[Heiko Tietze]

Present: Mihai, Rizal, Eyal, Heiko
Comments: bdac, Tomaz

Tickets/Topics

  * UI: better feedback of being inside a group of shapes
    + https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=167769
    + single click activation (with additional floating rotation widget
      on top) would allow a different workflow; not a fan of changing
      the behavior in such revolutionary way (Heiko)
    + indicating the group is valuable; you are inside the group
      even after a single click on the document canvas - and the
      Navigator is not helpful in this case (Mihai)
    + the rotation widget is a familiar control (Mihai)
    + when inside the group other shapes are dimmed; could be
      increased (Heiko)
    + alternative is to show the group indicators when inside the
      group but with a different layout or just in grey (Heiko)
    => comment

  * Document comparison at unintuitive/insufficiently-discoverable
    place in menus
    + https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=167404
    + move command under Tools (bdac)
    + we probably need to move both Compare and Merge (Heiko)
    + move into some Review menu like MSO (Mihai)
    + document options belong to File - where additional items are
      possible (Mihai)
    => go with the File menu

  * Use the scroll bar for showing the 'used' range, and the arrows
    to expand the sheet
    + https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=167685
    + Calc and Excel basically work in the same way with the difference
      that we reposition the thumb and allow to continue scrolling per thumb
    + it's kind of a consistency; but hard to say what's better - wouldn't
      change the behavior (Mihai)
    + changing the thumb to the minimum resp. the larges change like when
      reaching the sheet end makes exact positioning impossible (Heiko)
    + keep the thumb width and the amount of change like on the sheet start
      could be better (Mihai)
    + and alternative might be to slow scroll (like when pressing the buttons)
      at the very end (Heiko)
    => comment and ask for feedback

  * Find & Replace dialog: Add tabs and make it default
    + https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=167647
    + two buttons less on cost of tabs not worth the effort (Mihai, Heiko)
    + proposed change removes about half of the dialog area taken up by
      controls - which are replace-only controls; so, there is somewhat of
      a benefit. I would expect a deeper overhaul of the F&R dialog, but
      given the binary choice between the current dialog and the proposal
      - I weakly-support the change. (Eyal)
    + effect could also be done with a checkbox like "[ ] Replace" and
      only if checked the dropdown, input line, and buttons appear
    + make the dialog easier to approach with other methods like icon-only
      buttons (Rizal)
    => comment and suggest WF/NAB

  * Single page/blank document in Writer is displayed too high on
    a vertical (portrait) screen
    + https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=167586
    + center the working page linke in Draw (Tomaz)
    + MSO centers the first page if it's the only one and moves it
      to the top after adding a second page (with a nice smooth effect)
    + we are more consistent than MSO regarding one or more pages (Eyal)
    + show the vertical scrollbar (even if the page does not need it) and
      allow users to adjust the position (Mihai)
    + perhaps not wanted by all users and therefore optionally (Eyal)
    => do this


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