[Libreoffice-ux-advise] Image Rotation in Writer

[Michel Renon]

Hi,

Le 05/04/2013 10:20, Sveinn í Felli a écrit :
> Þann fim  4.apr 2013 15:12, skrifaði Stefan Knorr:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> As you might know, Writer currently does not allow to rotate
>> images (unless of course you're willing to use a rather
>> hacky extension).
>>[...]
>
> Depends on where we want to go;
>
> As of now, Draw can rotate images just like any other drawable, via the
> "Position and Size" menuitem (e.g. context menu). OTOH Impress can also
> rotate images via handles.

Both have a button toolbar "Effect" :
- in Impress, it has only the "Rotate" effect : a second click on a 
shape activates it
- in Draw, it has 8 effects : user has to manually select one

IIRC, that button was in the "Drawing" palette in previous versions, now 
it is in the "Line and filing" palette, beside "alignment"

> Personally I think that all modules in an application suite should treat
> similar objects in the same way, if possible.
> To be consistent, Writer and Draw should get handles for rotating
> images, and Writer should also get a "Position and Size" menuitem.

+1
(for Writer, the "position and size" is already integrated in the 
"Picture..." menuitem, beside all other properties of picture).
the remaining problem is the "second click" behavior only present in 
Impress. IMHO, it would be coherent to implement it in Draw.


The initial question was about a constrained rotation (+-90°) :
if it is the only allowed rotation, then 2 toolbar buttons are a logical 
way. It's the usual practice on most gallery software.
But in LibreOffice, it's different :
- there is the consistency with others modules that allow 
non-constrained rotation
- a constrained-rotation in writer is a first step before a 
non-constrained rotation (to be confirmed)
So, if devs start to implement a constrained rotation in writer, it 
would be interesting to use handles in order to prepare users to a 
future non-constrained rotation.
And, of course, implement also the "second click" behavior.

But there is something missing : how does LO indicate the constrain to 
the user ? Specially for a 90° constrain : the user has to move the 
mouse a lot before he can see the image rotated.
(you can test in Inkscape with CTRL : the constrain is only 15°)
My very first idea would be to show a radial grid that shows the 
available rotated positions


>
> Ideally the handles would behave and look like in most drawing packages
> [1]; changing to arrow-like shapes on second single-click. I always have
> to think twice when seeing the actual Impress round dots.

the mouse cursor changes to indicate the operation : that's a not so bad 
help.

>
> Whether all those modules get toolbarbuttons for rotation is another
> story; why not?

to respect consistency, for writer, the "effect" button should be added 
to the "frame" toolbar, beside "Bring to front". And not in the 
"Picture" toolbar, because she is hidden by default.

That "effect" button could have 2 more buttons "+90°" and "-90°", 
available for all modules.


Michel