Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 46457
Usability: defining spacing above / below paragraph by points
Last modified: 2013-02-07 22:42:07 UTC
For everyone coming from MS Word there is one annoying thing. When formatting a paragraph the units are the same as for the layout measurements (margins etc.). MS Word uses points (only for spacing paragraphs!) which is much more convenient. I've been using StarOffice and OpenOffice for 5 years and still use points for spacing (but never use it for the layout). That's why I know you can define the value in points when you add "pt" after the measuement. Don't expect a normal user (or one switching from MS Word) to know that. Points should be the default unit for spacing between paragraphs (but never for layout measurements like margins). It's a serious usability issue. I suggest to get this fixed before the final release of OO 2.0. You could do even better than MS. In MS Word clicking the arrow for spacing makes the figure jump by 6 which too much for me. 1 is too low. But jumping by 3 points would be best for 98% (or more) of the users (a guess of mine). This would give you one (small) point in usability against MS Word. By the way similar issues are mentioned in the bugs #24138 and #43003.
Reassigned to requirements
Keywords: +oooqa, +usability Note: Some other programs allow typing any measurement unit into text fields, so "3pt" or "0.04in" or "1mm" would be allowed. I don't remember whether the program retains the typed measurement unit or converts it some standard unit.
OOo seems to handle typing in measurements manually similarly to the way that MS Word does (units are accepted as typed, but converted to default unit when displayed). The only difference is that MS Word will retain the measurement as typed if you tab from one field to another; OOo converts it to global unit immediately. Both show default unit (always pt for line spacing in Word) after accepting changes and coming back to select a different formatting option. I did notice one difference that I've reported as a separate issue (#56029). The line spacing is restricted to 283.5 pts or 10 cm. I doubt that many people would have a problem with that, but it is a defect of the program as compared to MS Word.
OpenOffice.org Issue Tracker - Feedback Request. The Issue you raised is currently assigned to 'Requirements' pending review, but has not been updated within the last 2+ years. Please consider re-testing with one of the latest versions of OOo, as the problem(s) may have already been addressed. Either use the recent stable version: http://download.openoffice.org/index.html or consider trying the new OOo 3 BETA (still in testing): http://download.openoffice.org/3.0beta/ Please report back the outcome so this Issue may be Closed or Progressed as necessary - otherwise it may be Resolved as Invalid in the future. You may also wish to search for (and note) any duplicates of this Issue that may have advanced further by checking the Issue Tracker: http://www.openoffice.org/issues/query.cgi Many thanks, Andrew Cleaning-up and Closing old Issues as part of: ~ The Grand Bug Squash, pre v3 ~ http://marketing.openoffice.org/3.0/announcementbeta.html
It is possible to manually type in a measurement unit, but a typographical measurement would still be preferable for this case, especially since it isn't obvious that it is possible to enter a different unit.