Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 99286
Implement a Ruler Button to show/hide the rulers in Writer.
Last modified: 2013-08-07 14:44:35 UTC
I have written a quite long article to explain why, in my opinion, it would be important to have a button to show/hide the rulers in Writer. (And why the rulers should be hidden by default, see issue #99284) Both issues are related, but this one requires much more work! Here is the complete article: http://www.johannes-eva.net/index.php?page=ooo_hidden_ruler And here is the most important part of it: 1. A vast majority of users do not use the rulers. In the best case rulers are useless to the average user, in the worst case confusing. 2. Advanced users are able to find how to display the rulers anyway, if they need it. 3. The horizontal ruler is wasting precious vertical space! This is very important to people using small resolutions. Most laptops sold these days have a 1280x800 resolution. 1024x768 is by far the most used resolution, and the the netbook market, with its very small vertical screen sizes, is still growing. 4. Some other office suites already ship with their rulers hidden by default, this includes the market leader Microsoft Office 2007, but also RedOffice 4.0 and KOffice 2.0. 5. Hiding the rulers by default and making a new hide/show ruler button would be a huge improvement for OpenOffice.org, compared to the relatively small amount of programming/development needed. ---- RedOffice 4.0 (based on OOo) already has a "Ruler Button". Microsoft Office 2007 has one, too. Usability tests show that the ruler button is really easy to use. Its placement is precisely where a normal user would expect it to be: at the exact "altitude" where the ruler are.
Some more elements: The Ruler Button could have three states: 0. No ruler 1. Only horizontal ruler 2. Vertical and horizontal ruler A number (0,1,2) on the ruler icon could indicate its state. Do you think that this system too complicated on the usability side? If there is a gifted graphic designer aroud here, maybe he could make a draft for a show/hide ruler icon? (Crystal or/and Tango) As an attachment, Ruler button of Microsoft Office 2007 and RedOffice 4.0. --- This is NOT a duplicate of issue #26211, but a more elegant alternative to it. Issue #26211 could be closed if this one is resolved. This could be a solutions to issue #52498, too.
Created attachment 60220 [details] Ruler Button of Microsoft Office 2007
Created attachment 60221 [details] Ruler Button of RedOffice 4.0
reassign to requirements discussion on ux mailing list would be the best idea to get the questions answered
The URL of my articles about the rulers has changed: http://www.johannes-eva.net/plea-for-hidden-rulers-in-open-office/ (the article was not modified)