[Libreoffice] Formula cursor : bug or feature ?

[Jean-Baptiste Faure]

> Hi Jean,
>
> On Wed, 2010-12-29 at 21:11 +0100, Jean-Baptiste Faure wrote:
>> Jonas wrote:
>>> Assuming someone cares to implement it... and you're are welcome to
>>> step up to the plate :)
> ..
>> I strongly disagree : it is you who must not to destroy what is working
>> very well.
> 	Jean - this sort of adjective "destroy", is a shame to apply to some
> wonderful work that will really help millions to edit formulae in a more
> simple and effective way - for which we should be extremely grateful to
> Jonas. It distresses me to see developers criticised for introducing
> some minor bug or regression along with a huge improvement: which this
> work is (even if you don't appreciate the added function) :-)
Ok, maybe my word "destroy" was too strong, I should have written
"break". Sorry for that, but writing in English is not so easy for me. I
was afraid to return 15 years back and loose one of the main advantages
of OOo/LibO for my professional use.

That said I think it is very important to not forget, if we need to have
new developers, that developers need to be supported by advanced users
who probably are the main evangelists of LibO. So it is very important
that these advanced users are not discouraged by code changes that break
their usual practice, even maybe their professional use of LibO.
Programming is difficult and a great game too, but we (I am programmer
too but not (yet ?) in this area) must keep in mind that, behind the
software, there is end-users who do not play with it.

To be positive, I suggest that we have a list of experimental functions
which are currently under development.
And it would be more user friendly if we had a configuration tab where
we could activate or deactivate separately each experimental feature.

Last thing, if I agree that specification constraints in OOo are too
cumbersome, I think we should have, at least, a bug report (enhancement)
for each new feature which describe what this new feature will do and
what changes to the existing features are planned. By announcing these
new features on the dev list, everybody who is interested in the
development of LibO will be aware of planned new features and
experienced users will be able to help the developers with the point of
view of end-users.

Best regards.
JBF

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