[Libreoffice-ux-advise] Image Rotation in Writer

[Sveinn í Felli]

Þann mán  8.apr 2013 23:07, skrifaði 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.

+1
But, one frequent case I've seen is when people quickly scan 
a document/picture to insert into another document; and the 
inserted scan is *upside-down* ;-(
Maybe a 180° button should be there too ? Or just expecting 
users to rotate twice 90° ?

> 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°)

Actually it defaults to 15°, in Inkscape Preferences under 
Steps users can modify the value (mine is normally set to 5°).
In Inkscape the constrain is set via CTRL, while SHIFT makes 
the rotation center shift from center to origin (e.g. first 
corner); both can be used at the same time. ALT+cursor 
movement is a system command in many Linux window managers 
for moving the whole window.
In Adobe Illustrator the constrain is set via SHIFT and in 
CorelDraw it used to be CTRL and ALT for an even 
finer-grained secondary angle (if I recall correctly).

But then; modifier keys like those above would be a pain to 
replicate on a tablet based system, isn't it ?

> 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.

Could work. But the "Picture" toolbar also contains the 
"Mirror" and "Flip" buttons (flip horizontally/vertically); 
shouldn't those be grouped with the rotation buttons ?

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

Sveinn í Felli