[Bug 162200] "Text direction" in page style dialog, with Asian+RTL-CTL, is inconsistent, confusing, and doesn't always set the actual direction

[bugzilla-daemon at bugs.documentfoundation.org]

https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=162200

--- Comment #4 from Eyal Rozenberg <eyalroz1 at gmx.com> ---
(In reply to Regina Henschel from comment #2)
> It would become consistent, when the terms of XSL are used
> lr-tb
> rl-tb
> tb-rl
> tb-lr
> 
> But that would not be understandable for users, so no option.

Even regardless of ease of understanding - this would change the semantics, and
drop our current support for bottom-to-top vertical. So you would need 6
options. But then it would be even more obvious that we need to split the
direction property off from this list box.

That's why I believe the CSS terms are the more appropriate ones: writing mode,
direction (, and perhaps text-orientation although let's put that aside).

Now, the steps for making this more understandable would be:

1. The splitting off of direction from writing mode - less to understand for
each choice.
2. The use of longer labels rather than shorthands (which we already do, i.e.
we don't say "lr" but "Left to Right").
3. Consistency of semantics.
4. The preview graphic. It's already drawn incorrectly (bug 157554); we could
do better than just correct it, but have it clearly indicate everything: 

   * Whether lines are vertical or horizontal
   * In which direction of the page lines are added 
   * Which direction along the line the text progresses
   * The glyph orientation

> So my take is to not change it, but be more verbose in the help.

Like I told Heiko, we have to be both consistent and cover the necessary
settings, so I believe we can't leave things the way they are. But even if that
wasn't a consideration - improving the help must never be an alternative to
improving the UI, if a UI improvement is at all possible. The app must always
stand on its own without relying on users consulting the help (with some rare
exceptions). The help should always be extra, a fall back, in case we've not
gotten through to some users despite our best efforts.

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