[Libreoffice-ux-advise] [Bug 83026] Sidebar should open on the left side in accordance with the GNOME HIG

[bugzilla-daemon at freedesktop.org]

https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=83026

--- Comment #7 from Daniel Hulse <simplecontrast at gmail.com> ---
It appears to me that many of you haven't actually tried working with a sidebar
on the left. How could you--you've all responded far too quickly to have any
credibility about this.

"I am pretty sure that the user does not want Gnome HIG decides for him how to
arrange his workspace and if the sidebar should be on the left or on the right.
It is clear for me that the user must be free to dock the sidebar on the side
he wants."
This is a default. This bug isn't making it impossible to move the
sidebar--it's merely making it the default. And yes, users do want apps that
follow guidelines. If a user is using GNOME or any other desktop environment
with a HIG, they expect the layout and appearance of the apps they use to be
designed in a way that uses the visual language of the ecosystem. Not doing so
makes your app look ugly and seem unintuitive. 

And when the sidebar is placed on the left, the effect of opening and closing
it is the same on the viewable area as opening and closing it on the right,
making it not any more intrusive than opening it from the left. (although the
shifting of the area to the right can be a bit jerk-y)

"(plus my vote of staying on the right side: why to introduce a change in
Writer/Calc but not in Impress/Draw?)"

This change would be in all of them. Impress and Draw would either have the
sidebar on the left next to the slide chooser or integrate the slide chooser as
part of the sidebar. I'll admit the first option is awkward, but it gets the
job done.

"I agree with the Gnome HIG, but I would argue that the Sidebar does NOT have
priority over document content. On the contrary: given that the sidebar is
primarily contextual (i.e. the current state of the document defines what the
sidebar shows), it only makes sense to have the document area on the left and
the sidebar on the right. Navigation panes, on the other hand, make sense on
the left, as the selection made within them defines what is shown in the
document area."

Mirek, I have to admit I did agree with you when I was first thinking about
this change, but, when thinking about how this idea works in practice, I
changed my mind. If you look at the layout of an app like Geary, it flows from
selecting accounts to emails to the email you are reading. While the components
at the left are arguably less "important" than the email at hand, they are on
the left because they act on the content at the right and therefore should be
viewed first. In fact, if you look at gnome apps, the more "essential" stuff
like content goes at the right, while the chrome is on the left. So the
heirarchy that needs to be conveyed in top-to-botton left-to-right is not
really about priority, but what you use to act on what. And in LibreOffice, the
sidebar is used to act on the document, and not the other way around. While
elements of the sidebar do change depending on what you are editing and looking
at, the mental model of working with the sidebar is still that the sidebar acts
on the document, not that the document acts on it. 

This deserves more discuttion.

-- 
You are receiving this mail because:
You are on the CC list for the bug.