[Bug 167484] When no text is selected, font controls should reflect the chosen keyboard layout

[bugzilla-daemon at bugs.documentfoundation.org]

https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=167484

--- Comment #8 from Jonathan Clark <jonathan at libreoffice.org> ---
+1 for sure. Tracking the user's intended input language among script types
would also let us fix some other long-standing usability snarls, like bug
74735.

(In reply to V Stuart Foote from comment #1)
> Assumes there is a consistent method to query system for
> keyboard in use, and can be implemented cross platform.

Sadly, there isn't one. However, I think we shouldn't let that stop us from
providing the best experience we can on platforms where this is possible. It
would be good to let users control this manually too, which might be a good
enough solution for those other platforms.

(In reply to V Stuart Foote from comment #7)
> To keep the chaos down (and keep the ODF/OOXML meaningful), it would be
> reasonable to limit the keyboard/IME has changed response to apply at ICU
> lib word bounds for current edit cursor, or to word/sentence ends when a
> bounding selection of words has been  made.
> 
> Hard to justify the mess that would result doing it mid-word.

The way I imagine this feature working is, we would track the current input
language for GUI purposes separately from the document model. Any document
change would be entirely user-initiated. The user would need to switch language
and then type text before there is any DF, for instance. Switching to a
different input source should affect the GUI, but it should not affect the
document until writing happens.

If that's the way this feature works, I don't think it would be a problem if
users can change their language and start typing wherever they want. Someone
might want to click in the middle of a word and start typing Arabic. In my
opinion, that's their business, not ours.

ICU is a lovely library, but it's not an absolute authority on how language
ought to be used - let alone how documents ought to be edited.

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