Re: [libreoffice-design] Idea: command launcher for LibreOffice

Hi Oren, all!

Dear designers, I had to moderate Oren's mail and already included a
quick reply with a proposal from some time ago (see below, please).

Am Dienstag, den 25.10.2011, 22:29 +0200 schrieb Oren Barnea: 
> On Tue, Oct 25, 2011 at 22:09, Christoph Noack
> <christoph@dogmatux.com> wrote:
>         [...]
>         
>         Concerning your idea ... yes, we had some similar proposals
>         some years
>         ago, but we didn't get that far to consider it / implement it.
>         If you
>         like, please have a look at:
>         
> http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Proposal_by_Andreas_Schuderer#Keyboard_Command_Invocation
>  
>
> [...]
> Thank you for the link to the proposal from a few years ago. It's very
> well written and quite convincing IMHO... Do you happen to remember
> why it didn't even get considered? I read somewhere that after the
> split from OO.o, the development of LibreOffice became quicker and
> more flexible - do you think there's a chance that the idea that got
> rejected back then might be getting a warmer welcome now?

It didn't get considered, since we brainstormed about new ways to access
functionality ... first, we needed improved menus (the command
invocation was something optional), then it was prototyped, then it
became clear that before any changes OOo needed to be cleaned up first,
then we got the first results in Impress, and then ... well the story of
LibO :-)

Surely, the LibreOffice development became quicker and more flexible ...
because many developers are free to decide on their tasks and time. This
means we need to find someone who likes this idea. One, who may start
doing a simple proof-of-concept via an extensions (or something like
that). In this case, it needs asking them ... any developer around who
might know whom to ping?

Some years ago, I also thought a bit about such an issue ... for example
something like an "Awesome Bar" (see Firefox) for OOo/LibO.
      * Enter a word ... it's a term in the document as well? Then show
        the function to search / jump to that word.
      * Enter a number ... it's a heading? Then resolve it to a
        cross-reference.
      * Enter a function ... maybe the user needs help as well. Offer to
        go to the help topic.
      * ...

You'll get the point ;-) But first, let's have some room for the others
as well ...

Cheers,
Christoph

Am Dienstag, den 25.10.2011, 10:11 +0200 schrieb Oren Barnea:
> Hello,
>
> Here's an idea aimed at helping with the long-standing problem of the huge
> number of commands, options and menu items in office suites, and their low
> discoverability. It's more of an adaptation of existing ideas, actually.
>
> Desktop application launchers (Gnome-Do, Katapult, Synapse and their likes)
> have been around for years and IMHO are a very convenient way of executing
> applications, launching files and so on. Recently they have gone more
> mainstream, as Windows 7, Gnome Shell and Unity all have similar
> functionality built into their interfaces. I think an office suite could
> benefit from having a similar interface as a way to improve the efficiency
> of work and the discoverability of the commands and options available to the
> user, since the traditional menu structure and the newer Ribbon style are
> both lacking in this.
>
> As a first step to implement this idea, I think it might be possible to
> create an index of the texts in the localization files of LibreOffice, which
> include all the commands, options and word in dialog boxes that a user might
> want to execute. Once the index exists, a plug-in can be written to launch a
> search box that lets the user type what they want to do, search the index
> for the typed text, show the user a list of items that fit that text and
> execute the selected item.
>
> I don't know how difficult or easy it would be to do this. Maybe the
> suggested way of implementing this idea is not even possible (I'm actually
> not sure there is a way to map the indexed words to the actual commands, and
> if there isn't one, what would it take to create it.)
>
> I have to say that I'm not a software developer and I know almost nothing
> about the structure of LibreOffice. Everything I wrote about the
> implementation of this idea might be totally wrong. I know that some of the
> things I talk about don't even belong to this specific mailing list, but I
> think this is the right place to suggest this idea.
>
> I would be very happy to hear your opinions about this idea and if it's
> worth pursuing.
>
> All the best,
> Oren



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