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List:       koffice-devel
Subject:    koffice rc1 bidi tests results (long)
From:       Diego Iastrubni <iastrubn () actcom ! co ! il>
Date:       2002-08-16 21:58:27
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Hello all

I wrote a small article in which I describe how far is the koffice suit from 
being used in hebrew desktops. The original article is in hebrew, but I will 
do me best to translate it to you. 

First of all: I have been using kde3 since beta1, and even tried alpha. The 
same for all koffice suites. since I do need a hebrew capable work processor 
(IBM released a patch for sun's open office, but its not perfect). The 
changes are really big between versions, from small bugs to the big ones, you 
almost addressed them even though they were not submitted. If you want a big 
list of them please ask and I will provide them. On this list I will only put 
the relevant to the rc1. I know that some are configuration problems, but 
still I will tell them to you.

I am using a Mandrake 8.1 desktop computer, with kde 3.01 and qt 3.04.The h/w 
is an AMD XP 1600+, 256MB ram. Quite a fast desktop machine. All packages are 
mdk rpm found on the net nothing compiled on my own (a normal desktop it is).

kword
-------
* selecting text with the keyaboard takes too much time, like the processor is 
stressing when doing it.
* fonts ending with (xtf) did not render hebrew (altough the same files 
without xft did) while on the font dialog they did display hebrew. 
(iso8859-8)
* some other fonts were displayed OK on the font dialog, but on the main 
window they were not displayed. I am talking about fonts like elmar-fonts 
which configure themselves as some (not one) font name.
* fonts were displayed on screen but not on the print preview (the same 
fonts).
* tab key does not indent a paragraph but adds "a few spaces".
* when indenting a paragraph (in hebrew) the word wrap is still made according 
the original line size, and not the (linesize-indentsize).
* no way to choose the direction (not alignment) of a paragraph. currently it 
is done automagicly by the first char of the paragraph. Works most of the 
time but not always wanted. Actually this affect all kde.
* keyboard shortcuts missing (I am used to them from ms-word) ctrl+[] decrease 
or increase font size, ctrl+r, ctrl+l, ctrl+m right justify, left justify, 
center text. 
*tables: while they are rendered correctly now (mostly) there are some small 
bugs: one pixel not drawed, one frame is not drawed, on print preview it is 
rendered OK. BTW: the first cell is the left or the right cell?
* tables 2: please make the default cell one with frames. default koffice does 
not show the frame borders (in view menu) so it makes it difficult to 
understand what is going on
* tables 3: how do I get into the table without the mouse? with the keyboard I 
could not get it...
* tables 4: tab does not do as expected (move to next cell, if non available 
make a new row.
* importing: I tested this file: http://iglu.org.il/pub/Hebrew/GPL_Hebrew.rtf 
it was loaded, but rendered badly. I understand that .doc file were removed 
from this version.

**** bullets and list are still messed up, this is a must for the official 
version ***

kspread
----------
* in excel when a new sheet starts with an RTL letter it's mirrors it self 
making the first cell in the right and the scroll bar in the left. I did not 
notice how important it is until I worked in excel which does it. It is 
important.
* inside cells, text starting with hebrew should be right aligned by default 
the same way that numbers are done. This is the default beheaviour of all qt 
based programs.
* functions incompability: I passed to the month() function a cell, expecting 
to get the month in that cell (a1="30/3/2002", a2="month(a1)", a2 should 
display "March"). Works on openoffice and excel and does not work in kspread. 
Really needed function.
* how do I make a 3 and above dimensional chart? a two dimensional was easy.. 
but above did not do as expected.
* properties of a cell is alt+ctrl+f, 3 keys for a simple function excel does 
it with a simpler key combination ctrl+1.
* importing: I tried two xls, one is a small joke which you enter a few 
strings and then it writes "GOTO WORK", it crashed kspread when I actually 
filled all the fields I should. I can forward it to you if you want. The 
second is: http://www.israrail.org.il/excel/schedules.zip (national israelis' 
rail road schedules if you really want to know), which on opneoffice does not 
load (password) and in kspread does not load and crashes it.

kpresenter
-------------
* have program. too much IMHO. sometimes it has some seconds it just waits and 
then it continues to work (after running a presentation for example)
* missing wordart (well in kword as well...)
* in text box, when I type hebrew it's right aligned by default but when 
saving it's saved left aligned. I have to change it manually. 
* animation speed delay for each can not be configured. animation is done 
quite primitive actually.
* fade is needed as a animation and effect for changing pages
* the changing pages effects arequite hard to understand and use
* when showing the presentation the bottom part of the screen is not filled 
with the background but left black.
* Some effect were showed twice in a small presentation I made, I can mail it 
if it is needed.

Basicly I think that next version (not 1.2) will be ready for all them geeks 
which use only linux at home. Next major version *maybe* will be ready for 
full time usage by bidi users around the world. Currently the next version 
will not be able to make small articles for schools, or simple forms (I did a 
few in msword, I would love it if kword will be able to do them as good as 
msword or better).

Thanks for the great software.

- diego

-- 
It is necessary for the welfare of society that genius should be privileged
to utter sedition, to blaspheme, to outrage good taste, to corrupt the
youthful mind, and generally to scandalize one's uncles.
		-- George Bernard Shaw

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