Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 23957
Caption behaviour and layout
Last modified: 2017-05-20 11:25:49 UTC
Captions do not behave and are not layouted very well. To reproduce, create an embedded object of either type, and add a caption to it. Enter some text and click ok. Now, the Caption is way too close to the embedded object, when both are contained in a single frame. Adjusting the paragraph indention styles for the caption does not help. Instead you will have to do it manually by first making the embedded object's anchor style "as character", then, clicking to the right of the object and inserting a linefeed. This is the only solution I have been able to find to add some extra space between the object and the caption. Next, there is the caption numbering. It does not have additional whitespace following it, so the layout is not optimal in that the following text and the numbering are one when being print previewed or printed.
HI->OD: You are already in progress with this theme, aren't you.
*** Issue 76398 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
Note that the issue 76398 pointed to another precise root cause which is the style transfert from the Graphics style to the external frame, both the pic and the external frame having now a direct formatting. Rather strange for an application heaviliy based on styles. At least it should create a style "Caption" (for the extenral frame) based on the Graphics one (to be discussed).
For completeness, here it is the text of issue 76398: Steps to reproduce the issue: In a new Writer document, edit the "Graphics" frame style in order to add space below any inserted image. Insert dummy text and in between it insert an image. When the image is inserted, the spacing works as expected. Now, right click over the image and select "caption". Enter any text and press enter. Expected behavior: the space set in the Graphics frame style keep a distance between the image and the caption. Result: the space below the image is transferred to the new external frame and no space is left between the image and the caption. Below the external frame a space NOT set by the user is inserted while the configured space below the image is lost. Notice: By re-applying the Graphics frame style to the image only, the space is recuperated. Everything behave as if direct formating were applied to both, Graphics and "external" frame style reverting the spacing settings introduced by the user. In fact, the frame where the image and the caption is inserted is a variation of he "Frame" frame style, but with "direct formatting" applied on it: There is no way to control the default properties of that frame. Up to the moment, the only way to have a well defined "caption environment" is to define it by hand, making the whole built-in captioning system useless. Suggestion: when a caption is inserted, a new frame style must be created (maybe based on the Graphics frame style, or maybe the same Graphics frame style) and applied to the external frame without changing the properties of the original frame. The change is not a great one and will give to the user more control over the process.
I can confirm that this issue still exists in OOo 2.4.1. There are ways to work around it but getting the desired result takes too much time.
I can confirm the issue still exists in 3.0.0. Wanted to add that the comments of hagar_de_lest and rgb are quite meaningful in highlighting that the style information is transformed into direct formatting information once a caption is added. Is there some hidden benefit to this approach that we're not able to see?
Created attachment 73406
Don't know if this is wanted, but I think that the previous comment by dismetiner can be considered SPAM if you will.
Reset assigne to the default "issues@openoffice.apache.org".