From koffice Thu Feb 02 15:04:39 2006 From: Marco Menardi Date: Thu, 02 Feb 2006 15:04:39 +0000 To: koffice Subject: [Bug 121233] New: Suggestions for the new koffice startup dialog - Message-Id: <20060202160434.121233.mmenaz () mail ! com> X-MARC-Message: https://marc.info/?l=koffice&m=113889940530012 ------- You are receiving this mail because: -------You are the assignee for the bug, or are watching the assignee. http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=121233 Summary: Suggestions for the new koffice startup dialog - more usable Product: koffice Version: unspecified Platform: Compiled Sources OS/Version: Linux Status: UNCONFIRMED Severity: wishlist Priority: NOR Component: general AssignedTo: koffice kde org ReportedBy: mmenaz mail com Version: recent svn code (using KDE KDE 3.5.1)Installed from: Compiled From SourcesOS: Linux ** Startup dialog goals **It has to provide a fast way for the user to achieve the most common tasks when the program is launched. With traditional behaviour, the program creates and empty document and the user has to use the File menu to start the real work ** User needs **Based upon my home and office (=work) experience, I think that the most common tasks an user has to achieve when fires up a koffice program are:a) open a recent document. Even if there is a preview menu, very often after I've printed a document, I notice some issues and I've to retrieve it to edit. Or I have to complete a document I have abandoned the morning/day before. Or just want to remember which document I edited in the near past.b) create a new document based upon a template. With template I don't intend a collection of 100 or more, but a restrict number of customized ones. For instance, in my office I've just 3 templates, one for commercial letter, one for envelope of DL size, and one for fax. When I create a document, I want to be able to easily and fast choose among those 3 templates.c) open an existing document. It has to open a file open dialog in a directory I've defined as a default one (in my office, I've a directory with all the subdirs related to my documents, shared with my secretary). Would be great having a sort of bookmarks to be able to set more than one directory. ** Problems with the current design (svn code of 1.4.99) **To switch from tasks a,b,c, the current dialog has 2 kind of gizmos: a kListView for "Recent documents" and templates, and one button for "Open existing document...", and this is not good. In addition, sure for space reasons, that button does not have a icon the user can recognize. More, in the File menu the usual order is "New, Open, Open recent", while in this dialog is a sort of "Open recent, New, Open".In this kListView it presents multiple groups of templates, while common user needs is to have a very restrict number to choose from.If you select a template, on the right you have the option to "Always use this template", that has not to be put in this dialog, since is not something is needed very frequently (so against the goal of this dialog) and, in addition, if you check it, this beginning dialog is skipped and you will have an hard time to find out how to make it come back again (btw, as general rule, I think that this kind of settings have to be put where you can switch them on/off in the same place, so you immediately know where to revert them).Also this dialog makes items be "double click" activated, against the default "single click" of kde. I mean, if I want to open a recent document, or create a document from a template, I have to double click on the document filename or the template name. Don't know how to avoid this, and to be sincere I do hate the single click paradigm, but with a mixture of singe and double click is sure bad. ** Proposal **The proposal is based upon 2 main modifications: a) rearrange the templates stuff b) polish the visual interface.For a), koffice should provide (not in the startup dialog, of course, I mean through ordinary menu) a fast way to not only manage templates, letting the user to create / edit / delete / rearrange them, but also a special directory or template flag where to put user's default templates, the ones that have to be shown in the startup dialog (this at user and also global level, if possible, so you can easily accommodate an entire office needs with good defaults, letting each user the possibility to add special templates for his own use).Widgets of the same kind (buttons, as in my sample image, or a tab widget) should be provided to switch from Default templates – Open – Open recent. I've put them in the same order of the File menu,but the default one should be "Open recent".Krita or other applications where this makes sense, could have an additional button on the left, under "Open recent" (but with double space) for the creation of a custom document. A very primitive screenshot of an alternative: http://www.ammdomus.it/download/KDE/koffice_startup_dialog.jpg____________________________________koffice mailing listkoffice@kde.orgTo unsubscribe please visit:https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/koffice