Re: [libreoffice-design] Mouse click actions on Styles and Format window

Hi Rafael,

thanks for your mail ... I try to quickly add some comments.

Am Dienstag, den 26.04.2011, 02:50 -0300 schrieb Rafael Rocha Daud:
> Hi all,
>
> I propose a first easy modification to the Styles and Format issue, 
> regarding their window, which I find much unfriendly (not opposed to 
> friendly, but to nice :-)):

That's a good description ;-)

> Today there's plenty of empty space there. If you right-click that 
> space, you get one option: New. If you right-click over an existing 
> style, you get three options: New (which will be "based on", or 
> "inherit" the one you clicked), Modify and Delete. If you left-click 
> anywhere, you select styles.
> I think we could improve usability if we took better advantage of the 
> two mouse buttons (dismissing those mini context menus).

Well, that might be difficult, since context-menus are a de-facto
standard and also required for accessibility reasons.

But, I agree that the menus itself don't help that much at the
moment ... so let's try to balance context menus (being a direct /
alternative access) and more direct means.

> 1. We could have just one more button in that window, called 'New 
> Style'. It would have a small drop down, with just two options: 'New 
> Style', and 'New Style Based on Selected', which would create, 
> respectively, a completely new style or a new one based on the one which 
> is highlighted.

We already have a little drop-down that might help here ... but I don't
mind if we add a more self-descriptive button.

Still the point is - why do people need to add more styles? I think the
number of styles is quite sufficient, but maybe the defaults are
unwanted ... don't know.

> 2. Now, a right-click on an empty area could lead to 'New Style' 
> directly, without a one-option context menu appearing.

That would be against the platforms standards and to what users expect
when using LibO - all lists have (if there are any further commands) a
context-menu. And, it is less discoverable - clicking on "New" gives you
some clue, but starting an activity (e.g. if having accidentally clicked
on whitespace) is less user friendly.

> 3. Also, a right-click on an existing style could lead to 'Modify Style' 
> dialog immediately, which is too often used and could be accessed faster 
> this way. I know it's just one more click, but it's tedious, and 
> right-clicking, then choosing an option, if you're using a notebook, 
> that's very tedious, so I think this is a must.

Again, there hardly any self-explanation in this action :-) So, from the
discussions we had on this list in the last days, it might help to ease
to define those styles ("Apply vs. OK" discussion).

Word introduced a nice "on hover" drop-down - to avoid cluttering by
adding a drop-down to each of the list entries, they showed a drop-down
on mouseover. So you don't even need to use the context menu.

Some years ago, when we made the Notes for Writer, I followed a similar
approach:
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Notes2_Design_NoteWindow#Proposal_.22Note_Window.22

> 4. At last, we need a 'Delete Style' option. That could be put in any of 
> the (now) two buttons with mini drop down menus. I would suggest the new 
> one, with 'New Style' and 'New Style based on selected', since those 
> newly created would be the only ones that could be deleted this way.

Please see above ...

> I believe the addition of the new button does not add much clutter, and 
> is somehow expected: if it's the Style and Format window, how come the 
> 'New Style' is only available through a context menu? That once led me 
> to think that would be a super-power-user tool and I should never mess 
> with it; and since I didn't always like the existing styles (plus the 
> [already mentioned by someone] issue regarding the 'Standard/Default' 
> style versus 'Body Text' style), I ended up giving up styles at all for 
> such a long time I still regret. Of course that's a bit exagerated, and 
> not everybody gives up so easy as I do, but I really think a helping 
> hand here (and I mean UX design, not just help pages, as good as they 
> can be) is a must. And since we (I mean, you) are working in the Styles 
> dialog, I guess the Styles and Format main window could get a facelift too.

Totally agree.

> How does this sound?

You might now know my answer ;-) Thanks for the nice mail and the very
good descriptions, which made it very easy to comment on - I really hope
that my comments itself are a bit helpful.

Regards,
Christoph


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