desktop-packages team mailing list archive

[Satchit Bhogle <874946@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Forgive me, I believed that suggestions such as these could be filed as
bug reports under Wishlist. I'll go find a mailing list, thanks.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/874946

Title:
  LibreOffice Writer menus are too cluttered

Status in “libreoffice” package in Ubuntu:
  Opinion

Bug description:
  OS: Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric stable
  Application: LibreOffice Writer 3.4.3

  A user of LibreOffice suffers death-by-menu much like he or she did
  with MSWord 2003 or earlier. It is possible to cut down the number of
  menu entries.

  Here's a few preliminary suggestions for reorganisation while staying within the same menu design:
  A. File:
  1. Wizards and Templates should be bundled together, and both should be displayed more prominently on the interface, because frankly, no one looks even knows of their existence unless they search very carefully.
  2. Reload should be struck out, and Versions bundled into Changes and Compare Document under Edit.
  3. Export and Export as PDF should be bundled together.
  4. Send should renamed as Email, as all options seem to be regarding email. Consider scrapping this, because most users use attachments in their browser or mail client.
  5. Printer Settings should go under Print.
  6. Consider putting Digital Signatures under Properties.

  B. Edit:
  1. Changes and Compare Document should be merged with Versions into one consolidated feature.
  2. I don't see any point to Repeat. What feature are users likely to repeat, other than possibly Paste, for which they can simply Ctrl-V again? It's confusing and should be removed.
  3. Paste Special must go. Regular Paste works with plain and rich text, images and all other types. If not, it should.
  4. AutoText should be moved to either AutoCorrect Options under Tools, or Fields under Inset.
  5. Editing footnotes, indices, hyperlinks, images, etc should be handled contextually and should not be separate entries under Edit.
  6. I cannot for the life of me figure out what the checkbox for Edit>Plugin does.
  7. Find and Find & Replace should be bundled together.
  8. Selection Modes and Select Text should be scrapped.

  C. View:
  1. Print and Web Layouts should be checkbox entries under a consolidated Layouts.

  D. Insert:
  1. Section should be removed. Manual editing with Headings works fine to delineate sections.
  2. Headers and Footers should be combined.
  3. Consider Cross-References into Index.
  4. Indexes and Tables should become one entry instead of a sub-menu. It should be renamed "Indexes" or "Indices" to avoid confusion with the Tables menu.
  5. Consider putting Envelope under File>Templates.
  6. Remove Horizontal Ruler. Not only is a user liable to confuse it with the ruler on the top of the page, but it is useless (if it was intended to be a section break) and ugly beyond all belief.
  7. Remove Table, as it is a function repeated in the main Table menu.
  8. Frame and Floating Frame should be consolidated into one.
  9. The sub-menu Picture should be one option. Scan could be an option included in the resulting dialogue, or it could be scrapped, as most users do not perform the function in this manner.
  10. The option File should be removed. I do not believe any users attach files which are not covered in Picture, Sound and Video, etc to documents.
  11. The options in the sub-menu Object should become separate options in the parent menu (because the name is ambiguous, and the options within have far clearer names), with OLE object (because users merely copy-paste Spreadsheets, Charts, Drawings etc from the relevant application in the suite or else create them within Writer itself) and Plug-in (because it is unintuitive) scrapped.

  E. Format:
  1. Rename Character to Font for greater clarity.
  2. Consider scrapping Paragraph. Its functions are performed more easily without a menu option.
  3. Remove Bullets and Numbering and introduce its options contextually when a user creates a bulleted or numbered list.
  4. Bundle Page and Title page together.
  5. Bundle Change Case with Font.
  6. Remove AutoCorrect and use AutoCorrect Options under Tools for its functions.
  7. Anchor, Wrap, Arrange and Group can be introduced contextually.
  8. Remove Object, Frame/Object and Picture and introduce them contextually.
  9. Consider bundling Columns with Page.

  F. Table:
  1. Consider removing Select. It does not require a menu option.
  2. Remove Formula. It is covered under the Insert menu and, in any case, does not belong under Table.

  G. Tools:
  1. Consider bundling Outline Numbering and Line Numbering with Bullets and Numbering under Format.
  2. Remove Gallery and introduce it contextually.
  3. Remove Footnotes/Endnotes and introduce it contextually.
  4. Remove Mail Merge Wizard and bundle it with Versions under Edit.
  5. Remove the sub-menu Update and replace it with a single Update All Fields.
  6. Consider bundling AutoCorrect Options under Options.

  LibreOffice Writer, while being the most feature-rich word processor
  on Linux, is also often slow and accused of being disorganised and
  inelegant. Even keeping to the existing look, a lot can be done to
  streamline its menus and functions.

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