Thinking on, all of the attributes of a style are listed in one of the
organizer tab in the 'paragraph style' dialog, which would seem to go quite
some way towards meeting the needs of those who liked the reveal codes feature.
(It is accessible on a mac by control clicking in the style concerned, then
selecting 'edit paragraph style... ' from the menu. Presumably a left (?) click
on other operating systems.)
Maybe if this were more readily accessible via the drop down menus and an icon
(neither seem to exist at present) and the facility flagged up prominently in
help, including an entry titled 'reveal codes', this would help to keep folk
happy?
More generally, am not sure the 'blame the user' approach which seems to be
developing in this thread is constructive or conducive with community. Better
we recognise that there is going to be a very wide diversity of abilities,
opinions and ways of working amongst 100 million plus users, respect those,
allow for flexibility where that can be reasonably achieved, and aim for a
simple and intuitive user interface without the need for steep learning curves
where they can possibly be avoided.
----- Original Message -----
From: Brian Barker
Sent: 05/14/14 05:29 PM
To: users@openoffice.apache.org
Subject: Re: Suggestion.
At 23:38 14/05/2014 +1000, Marina Tadiello wrote: >In general, and from a
user's perspective, Styles are one example of >how common users are encouraged
(or forced? :-) to think ("program") >and behave like computers. It's perhaps
worth pointing out that the truth is diametrically opposite to this claim!
Users who ask to "reveal codes" are asking to look at the inner workings of the
program and to see how (they perceive that) it and the computer actually work.
Developers who offer facilities such as styles are allowing users to use
programs and computers in the way *the users* think, not how the machinery
does. If you want, say, a paragraph to be indented, you want the paragraph
indented, pure and simple. And that's what styles allow you to say. If you
prefer the codes, you need to say "Start indenting the text from this point
onwards" and separately "Stop the indenting of text that you have been
practising up to now". That's the way programs and computers may need to think,
but it i
s not the way real users do naturally. Have you ever been asked to
double-space a document? Probably. Has anyone ever asked you instead to set
double spacing at the beginning of the document and then turn it off at the
end? Of course not: that's not how people think and speak! >This is not
necessarily the best way to ensure "user satisfaction". 1. Remember that local
formatting is still available: no-one is forced to use styles. 2. Many users
are most satisfied using a word processor as if it were a typewriter. Their
satisfaction should not be allowed to limit the advancement of software and
facilities that can be appreciated by others. Brian Barker
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