[libreoffice-design] Re: Removing layer 'Control' and 'Dimension Lines'

Hi Regina,

great to see the outcome from the hackfest. Must have been a cool event.

Removing special layers is a good idea, because, as you say, z-order and visibility are handled 
secretly. The only drawback that I see is when users have placed objects on this layers and it's 
not shown for old documents (simply show the layer when the file contains elements on it).
What we could need after the change is a way to manipulate the z-order of (all) layers, so if a 
user creates "My layout" she can move it on top of all other at any time.
Hiding the layer tabs is not so good as long we do not have alternatives such as in the Navigator. 
As an essential feature like sheets in Calc it needs a prominent place in the UI. But I remember 
requests in this direction.

Ideally you file a bug report and we discuss the issue there with all transparency. (Meta ticket 
99648 is just for keeping things together)

Cheers,
Heiko

On 08.04.2018 13:40, Regina Henschel wrote:
> Hi Heiko,
>
> on Hackfest Hamburg Armin and me decided to start a project for making layers ODF conform. We 
> detect some aspects which touch UI.
>
> In ODF there exist no special roles for layers. The special handling of "Control" and "Dimension 
> Line" layers is not reflected in file format. We want to remove them both.
>
> a) The layer "Dimension Line" is used automatically, if a dimension line is inserted. The initial 
> idea had been to separate dimension lines from the rest of the drawing with minimal effort for 
> the user. An advanced user can still use an own layer to separate the dimension lines from the 
> rest of the drawing. We would only loose, that a dimension line is _automatically_ inserted onto 
> this layer, even if the layer is not the active one.
>
> b) Objects for form controls are in non-design mode real windows. As such they are always in 
> front of other content. To mimic this behavior in design mode, the layer "Control" has got the 
> special feature, that objects on it are forced to be in z-order in front of all other objects. If 
> removing this special handling, the form controls are still always in front in non-design mode, 
> but might be behind other objects in edit mode.
>
> To be able to remove these two layers would result in only one default layer in normal view, so 
> that the layer tab bar can be hidden by default. So a normal user would no longer be confused by 
> two layers, he cannot delete and its purpose he does not understand.
> Advanced users can still insert own layers.
>
> What do you think about this plan?
>
> Kind regards
> Regina

-- 
Dr. Heiko Tietze
UX designer
Tel. +49 (0)179/1268509

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