[Libreoffice-ux-advise] [Bug 34355] Option to show track changes in margin is missing

https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=34355

--- Comment #51 from blargh@engineer.com ---
(In reply to whynot from comment #50)
> @Jean-Baptiste: 
>
> I appreciate sharing that a balloon view is not your preference. However,
> many have a completely different preference. I suppose that further suggests
> that this should be a changeable setting. 
>
> I personally agree with many, many in this thread that the balloon
> visualization of changes is a "must-have" feature. I spend the majority of
> my day writing, and I professionally depend on it. For me this feature is so
> critical and important that I simply cannot use LibreOffice for
> collaborative writing with my entire team. 
>
> I use the mode in MS Word where it shows the final version of the document,
> but highlights the deleted text in balloons on the border. Personally, I
> think that having the cross-out text in the middle of the remaining text
> makes it visually very challenging, and in many cases unreadable. The other
> disadvantage of keeping the deleted text and showing it in "cross-out"
> letters is that it bloats the length of the document. What I find so
> beautiful about the "balloon mode" is that the document looks very similar
> to the final version, but the deleted stuff is still visible on the
> sidelines. For many things we write, the length of the document is very
> critical. If you keep the deleted text in there (cross-out), the document
> will appear to get longer and longer, the more changes there are (and it
> becomes less readable). This will mess up a lot of things in the document,
> for instance how text flows around figures, etc. 
>
> A few years ago, someone maintained a "wish list" web page with the Top 10
> most desired features for LibreOffice/OpenOffice. This particular request
> was solid #1 pretty much the entire time. So there are A LOT of people who
> really, really want and need this feature. I think some of the comments on
> this thread also reflect this. Based on this background, commenting that
> this is simply a "bad idea" is not helpful. I understand that people have
> different preferences, and FOSS is all about choice. Telling users that
> there need and wish of having this feature is a bad idea is not really
> appreciative of their feedback.

I could not agree more with this comment.
It is probably the most mentioned missing feature when it comes to
collaborative writing and the reason many groups use MS Word for anything that
requires input from several users, be it a one-page letter or a long report.

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