Re: [libreoffice-users] PC Magazine Comments about LibreOffice

On 5 November 2015 at 14:24, Mark Rousell <mark.rousell@signal100.com> wrote:

> As for "clumsy", there are some features of LibreOffice that could be in
> my opinion described as clumsy in comparison to certain competitors
> (e.g. MS Office). All of the points below are in 5.0.1.2.
>
> In Writer, one such example is the way that you can't get real time
> previews of what changes to things like styles, fonts, text size,
> colours, etc. will look like to existing text. The way that Word does
> this is very handy and *in* *comparison* LibreOffice Writer feels
> rather... well, clumsy. If you can get real time previews in LibreOffice
> Writer please do let me know. (I note that Calc *can* do this for fonts
> but not for text size, colours, or anything else that I've noticed).
>
> Another way in which LibreOffice could be said to feel a bit clumsy is
> editing of multi-line cells in Calc. Even if the text in the cell is
> bottom aligned, when you edit it the text pops up to the top of the
> cell. In other words, when editing you are not getting WYSIWYG. One can
> live with it but it's a bit annoying. One could even call it... clumsy.
>
> Another oddity is that the user cannot correct the spelling of
> misspelled words in multi-line cells in Calc using the right-click menu.
> The automatic spell checker will recognise and red underline misspelled
> words in multi-line cells but there is no way to use the right-click
> menu to correct them. It works fine in single-line cells, though. (You
> can still spell check the entire document with 'Tools|Spelling...' of
> course but that's not the point here). One might reasonably call this
> annoying little oddity... clumsy.
>
> Oh, another oddity that I've just noticed is that when there is a
> misspelled word (underlined in red) on the bottom line of a
> bottom-aligned multi-line cell in Calc, then when you edit that cell and
> the text pops up to the top of the cell for editing, part of the red
> underlining remains, somehow orphaned in the cell border at the bottom
> of the cell! This is only a visual annoyance but it does look....
> clumsy, one might say, in comparison to, say, MS Office.
>
> Another annoyance in LibreOffice is that as far as I know (correct me if
> I'm wrong) you can only select automatic spell checking to be switched
> or or off across both Writer and Calc (and I presume other programs in
> the suite, although I've not tested). In my case, I want automatic spell
> checking to be on in Writer but off in Calc. MS Office can do this.
> Again, one might say that lack of this feature in LibreOffice, minor
> though it is, is a bit "clumsy".
>
> Sure, one can could argue that these examples are only minor and only
> "clumsy" in comparison to MS Office but the fact is that MS Office is
> the competitor and key comparison point for office suites.

Whether differences are 'clumsy' is, I suppose, influenced by what one
is accustomed to using. There are things that, by these measures, I
would label as quite clumsy in MS Office. Examples?

Excel has no way to create custom keyboard shortcuts. Even worse, it
doesn't use standard shortcuts (e.g. for cell alignments).

When switching to an Excel spreadsheet with the mouse, one cannot
click on a target cell. Clicking on it makes the spreadsheet active,
of course, but the last cell which was active is the active cell. It
takes a second click to select the target cell. Not only 'clumsy', but
a huge productivity loss.

In Excel, <F2> followed by <Ctrl>+<A> does not select the contents of
the cell for copying or cutting. Frustrating. And stupid.

Of course, I could go on, but my point is that neither the author of
the article, nor anyone else, should call an application 'clumsy' in
relation to another application unless equally adept at both.

-- 
T. R. Valentine
A rich heart may be under a poor coat.

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