Re: [libreoffice-users] Tabs in selection of text

Thanks Dan,

I guess what is unintuitive is the CSS-like approach to Styles. I find 
CSS to be very difficult when, as you say, you have a complex page and 
need to nest various styles and keep track of hierarchies.  When using 
LO for text docs, I'm simply wanting to produce a text document with 
other elements scattered around.  I want a simple interface that gives 
me decent control over presentation but doesn't require in-depth 
studying to learn how to use it.  I want to format a document or 
section, then occasionally apply a set of tabs (or other formats) within 
a subset that applies only to that section.

And I'd rather not have to build a style just for tabs to a bulleted 
list when I may only use that specific style once ever. I do a lot of 
document specific formatting and I don't want a massive list of styles 
to wade through every time I want tabs at specific locations.  What 
would be even worse would be to have to repeat all the other styles 
components for that section in my new tabs style.  (Sounds like that may 
not be necessary if that's what you mean by nesting.)

I will eventually learn about Styles and no-doubt start using them for 
big-picture formatting.  For often-repeated styling I can see the value 
of Styles.  But I don't see using them for every one-off stylistic 
change I make in a document, and if that means I have to remove styles 
for a sub-section in order to add or change something for just that 
section, I suspect I'll end up highly frustrated with LO.

I get that I may be an unusual case and no one develops for that 
oddball.  But I can't believe I'm alone.  Back in the early 2000s I'd 
hoped OO (and now it's offspring) would be a viable alternative to the 
big bully in the room, but for a number of reasons (not just Styles) I 
just don't see that happening.  And at least in my circles, it's use has 
dropped off significantly.

Carl


On 4/8/19 4:44 PM, Dan Lewis wrote:
> On 4/3/19 8:37 PM, Carl Paulsen wrote:
> > I have a number of "paragraphs" of text (job listing section of a 
> > resume) for which I'd like to add tab stops.  I select the lines and 
> > click the tab stop I want, then click in the ruler, but nothing 
> > happens.  I see no menu item to format tabs, though I did stumble 
> > into one dialog box with Tabs that required manual setting and it was 
> > unclear just where those tabs would be applied.  In any case, I can't 
> > find that any more.
> >
> > In the help document 
> > (https://help.libreoffice.org/Common/Inserting_and_Editing_Tab_Stops) 
> > it says for changing one or more paragraphs: "Select the paragraphs, 
> > then click inside the ruler."  That is most definitely not working.  
> > Finally, if I clear all formatting, I get the default tab stops and 
> > could re-format the entire section that way.  But that's a bit of 
> > work given all the formatting I'd lose.
> >
> > What do I do to quickly and simply edit tab stops, and why is it so 
> > difficult in LO?
> >
> > FYI I find the Styles aspect of LibreOffice to be entirely 
> > unintuitive and I've never been able to work with them.  I realize 
> > that should be a goal but it's not possible in my current timeline.
> >
> > Thank you!
>
>    I missed this when this thread was started. Your 'FYI' statement is 
> probably the real reason for all of your problems. LibreOffice is 
> designed to use styles for text creation and/or editing. Manual 
> formatting can create so many more problems than using styles. Besides 
> they are harder to solve. The 'Getting Started Guide' has at least one 
> chapter on styles as does the 'Writer Guide'. When I first began 
> working on the documentation for OpenOffice.org (early 2000's) and 
> later LibreOffice, I used this chapters to learn how to use styles. I 
> have never regretted. I would like to know what is 'unintuitive' with 
> styles. I am thinking it might be that you think in terms of lines of 
> type verses groups of paragraphs.
>
>   You also may have some problems with the concept of nesting. Each 
> paragraph has specific set of characteristics that applies to every 
> character of the paragraph; it ends with a paragraph break. Character 
> styles are used to give specific characteristics to a continuous set 
> of characters within the paragraph.
>
>    Perhaps it might be unintuitive for you to think that each member 
> of a list can also be a separate paragraph. Yet this might be the best 
> way to give you document the formatting you want it to have.
>
> Dan

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