Re: [libreoffice-design] Hide ruler by default?

On Sat, 2011-10-15 at 00:49 -0300, Rafael Rocha Daud wrote: 

> Majority says disable by default. For usability as well as aesthetics, 
> I'd say:
> a) most people use tabs for indentation, and do it on their default values;
> b) on most machines, it looks prettier without rulers. I use a very good 
> GTK2 theme, so the rulers are really fancy, but it's not the rule (pun 
> intended);
> c) screen real estate, as already stated (pun intended) by many;

on some smallish screen devices +++1 

> d) using the ruler is a rather advanced formatting tool, if compared to 
> the current ease of turning it on/off;

+1, and if default is will be off using the current on/off control is
very easy. 

> e) we could always take it back, if we manage to improve it's size, 
> looking etc., or if we favor direct formatting or at least auto-updating 
> of styles.
>
> For all the above reasons (and no reason against it so far), I believe 
> we should disable it by default. There will always be time to review 
> this in the future when analysing other defaults (which I agree we 
> should do, Kévin, just not now IMHO).
>
> PS.: just for being the devil's advocate, disabling it by default could 
> lead some to think it's not offered in the suite. However, I don't 
> believe someone who would actually miss it would, at the same time, 
> think it's gone for good or not be able to find it in a few seconds.

You probably will get a few who must be told how to turn on the ruler.
However, I agree most who actually use the ruler should find easily if
the on/off is located where it currently is. I think you summed the
problem of the ruler, it takes up space and is often not used by anyone.
Reviewing how often I change the defaults ruler settings, I must admit
it is not very often, in fact fairly rare and only on specific documents
that I could use a template for the initial settings.

Note a sophisticated user should have that ability to change the default
template and could change the default tab settings, etc. in the new
default template.

IMHO, as along as formatting tools that are easy to access (on/off) I do
not see that default behavior initial state is very critical (on/off)
for users. The default state should be determined by what makes sense
for most users in most situations. Normally, I like most as default off.
I think no one serious questioned why the ruler was default on, it had
been default on in programs since the 80's. The original reasons, which
I do not know/remember, probably were very sensible and practical for
then. Kevin good job asking the question. 

> Em 14-10-2011 23:00, Kévin PEIGNOT <peignot.kevin@kpeignot.fr> escreveu:
> > Does a UI expert says what he thinks ? Because actually, it seems it should
> > be disabled (majority seems to think this)
> >
> > Kévin



-- 
Jay Lozier
jslozier@gmail.com

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