[Libreoffice-ux-advise] LO's styles are more confusing then MSO's (Was Re: some thoughts on the Sidebar)

[dollyp]

Cor Nouws wrote
> dollyp wrote (06-09-13 23:11)
> 
>> 
> <snip>
>> Direct formatting is
>> less effective than using styles but LO's styles are if anything more
>> confusing to the average user than MSO's.
> 
> Hmm. would you mind to explain why that is the case, in your opinion?
> 
> thanks,
> Cor

Hi Cor

I'm being very subjective here. I considered I was a master of using styles
in MSO Word but I found it confusing moving to LO Writer. I acknowledge that
as a concept styles should be used for everything and so it's perhaps not
surprising that absolutely everything has to have a named style. However the
list of styles is just too large for normal use - four screens worth if
showing all styles. 

Styles are divided into sections - paragraph, character, etc. - but for
example there are far more numbering and list styles in the paragraph
section than in the list styles section: that doesn't make sense. I know
many of these are both paragraph AND list styles, but why does "List 1
start" appear as a paragraph style but not as a list style. When I came to
my first LO document with numbers I couldn't get styles to work as I
expected them to do and still can't (I'll amplify if you wish); the answer
was to reach for the numbering button on the toolbar - big mistake.

I think that it is too simplistic to just think that styles are the answer
to everything. Most users aren't purists and in practical terms for simple
short documents we won't get people to stop using direct formatting. The
dilemma is to make styles more useable without alienating those for whom
styles are essential. We are all converts here; those who move from MSO2003
and earlier will probably do just fine with LO's treatment of styles, but we
must also remember those whose only experience of styles is with MSO2007 and
later, where the emphasis appears more on direct formatting.

Regards
David





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