Re: [libreoffice-design] Fields UI rework - first impressions

Hi Björn, Cedric, all!

Am Mittwoch, den 22.12.2010, 20:47 +0100 schrieb Björn Balazs:
> Hi Cederic, all,
>
> I am still fighting some problems with actually installing LibreOffice to my 
> OpenSuse (just recently switched because I was pissed with Kubuntu - but world 
> is not much greener here - even though the Logo suggests so). No! Don't laugh! 
> Stop! I am psychologist :)

:-)

A few years ago, some German advertisement suggests that "blue makes
happy". Thus, I've switched to Fedora for the Virtual Machine that I use
to test the LibO builds. So fighting begins after starting LibO ;-)))

[...]

> My first impression (only rarely touched it in productive work so far): What a 
> monster. No wonder I tried to avoid using it. In other words: There is 
> potential. 

Hehe, there is ... and although some people won't believe that, some
parts are still superior to what the competition provides.

> Taking a first deeper look, I ended up understanding only parts of the 
> dialogue. I have no clue, what users do with variables in here, also the 
> functions are quite mysterious atm, and there is a good chance I don't 
> overlook the potential of database work. Cross-references seem still to have a 
> couple of conceptual leaks to me (why can I set a reference but no Bookmark? 
> Whats the difference between both anyhow?). But, hey - it's a start.

Basically, the dialog handles nearly everything that depends of variable
data that needs represented somehow.

Here just some remarks to what you've written:
      * Variables contain e.g. dynamic texts. You can set a variable in
        the document (there will be an non-width field on that position)
        and from that time on, you can recall the variable content. For
        example, if a user writes a book and wants to divide the
        document in several sections without using the Outline
        Numbering, then he can set the variable "Section" with the value
        "Part I" and then recall it anytime. If the section changes,
        then the user re-writes the variable, e.g. "Part II". Each
        reference will refer to the very last variable definition. (Not
        that much time ago, there has been some inflexibility concerning
        outline numbering - so you had to use such magic.)
      * Cross-references: Cross-references got a major overhaul a few
        versions ago; resulting in functionality that now looks like a
        strange leftover (at the moment, it might still be required).
              * The easy way: You can select a heading in the dialog and
                insert a cross-reference that can represent different
                kinds of data (page number, section number, ...).
              * The manual way: If you select a cross-reference (see
                above), then this heading (or whatever) gets a
                reference. But you can also add a reference anywhere in
                the text and add (like above) a pointer to that
                reference.
      * Bookmarks: In contrast to cross-references, bookmarks do also
        "work" outside the fields dialog. When saved/exported to HTML,
        they represent text anchors - whereas "cross-reference
        references" are not considered. Thus, bookmarks can be inserted
        via the application menu ("Insert -- Bookmark..."). In ancient
        history, Writer/WEB was meant to be a HTML editor that based on
        Writer - so you'll find some web functionality within Writer as
        well. [But please, don't ask me whether this makes sense today.]
      * Functions: Functions can evaluate field values and act upon.
        Some people (as an example) use it for the mail-merge to select
        the proper title (for woman / man).

But there are also other places that deal with field / variable
information (to give you an overview):
      * the application menu "Insert -- Fields" provides shortcuts to
        often used field types (static list)
      * the Navigator lists some of the field information (e.g. provides
        a list of headings in the document)
      * the Data Sources dialog ("View -- Data Sources") provides direct
        linking of fields of connected databases

Did that help somehow?

> The reason for this being one dialogue seems to me that it handles the 
> technical comcept "fields". I actually very much doubt "fields" is a valid 
> user concept at all, because "insert name of document here" is definetly not 
> in the same category as "paint this field red, when datafield equals 5 and 
> current pagenumber is greater than 30" - even though both touch the technical 
> area of "fields". 

No excuse, just trying to explain - most of the functionality within
LibO/OOo is based on strong object-oriented contexts (anybody remembers
the "Object Oriented Word Processor" claim?). Thus, such dialogs usually
handle both content and behavior of objects.

But since people usually don't think object oriented, the menu name
don't reflect that - they rather try to give the less technical user
some clue what it basically does.

Consequently, if we want to change that - we have to overhaul a lot more
things (which has to be done in the future anyway, but just as a "wow, a
lot of work" warning *g*).

> Next to this there a couple of smaller hurdles in the dialogue (e.g. look out 
> for the creative variations in the use of "fixed" for a field).

Hehe, special topic ... fixed fields keep the content once they are
created. For example, if you insert a date field, it won't get updated
later.

For a "normal" text document, that doesn't make that much sense - manual
typing is faster :-) But, if this is used within AutoText blocks
(pre-defined content) or document templates, then the values get updated
once it is inserted/created. Thus, creating a document based on a
template containing a fixed date field, results in the current data. But
this won't change after the creation. Quite handy...

[User Stories]

For end-user, user stories are great - to finally come up with something
that eases their work. Unfortunately, the dialog is heavily used in
data-driven environments, too. Thus, if there will be any major changes,
then I suggest to invite some representatives/consultants. Otherwise
(according to my experience) there will be "cold wind" that blows on our
faces ;-)))

I'm not sure if the field dialog is well covered within the OOo
Improvement Program, maybe we have to give that a try:
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/w/images/a/a7/OOo31_Usage_Feedback_Data.ods

Look out for something called ".uno:InsertField" - for the dialog, there
might be more.

Basic explanation how to work with the data:
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Tracking_results#Impress_Usage_Data_for_Download

> My first impulse is to move the dialogue in the direction of a wizard. So we 
> are much more flexible to react to the different needs of the various actions 
> in the dialogue. It could also be a potential to split it up into more single-
> goal focussed dialogues. Let us see what the discussion about user-stories for 
> this dialogue brings up.

Yep, that sounds good.

> I guess from the UX perspective there could conceptually be an overlap with 
> the formular editor in calc? Are there any concepts around that could inspire 
> our work in this direction? Christoph?

Well, very good point (Calc)! Although there is also some (limited)
formula stuff in Writer as well. For other concepts, mmh, I have to
think about that ... I'm currently unsure. Stefan, anyone else?

But to feed you with even more information, I had a look at the OOo
specifications that deal with the field dialog (sort of). So if you need
something to read during the holiday season, how about:

http://specs.openoffice.org/writer/database/database_field_dialog.sxw

http://specs.openoffice.org/writer/numbering/Direct_Cross_References_to_Headings_and_Numberings.odt


> Looking forward to your comments.

Björn, cool that you joined! I hope some of the comments will help to
feel familiar ... or just overwhelmed. You may chose ;-)

Cheers,
Christoph


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