Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 48827
Keyboard navigation in formatting dialogs
Last modified: 2013-02-07 22:32:07 UTC
For many fields in the formatting dialog boxes in OO.o Writer, there is no way to use an ALT+[key] key combination for selecting important formatting fields, the chief example in my usage being the Spacing drop-down menu in the Paragraph formatting dialog box. It requires several strikes of the TAB key to get to that field, when something like ALT+s or ALT+n could *easily* be put in to make it far easier for the user to highlight that field. I'm told that this colossal lack of easily-implementable swift navigation features qualifies as a DEFECT under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Please fix this. It is the one feature MS Word has that makes it so much easier to use than OO.o for me. I use OO.o anyway, but am constantly frustrated by this long-ignored defect.
Thanks for supporting OpenOffice.org and reporting this issue. Im confirming the issue, but set this to Enhancement, as OOo dialog boxes behaviour is as specified. To speed up implementation, you / we should work on an complete list for keyboard shortcuts for all the desired functionality.
I have created a table in Calc listing my suggestions for shortcut keys for tabs and controls that currently do not have shortcut keys. My suggestions include the tools I use most frequently in Writer. When I have more time, I will probably add more to the list. It is currently attached as "control_shortcuts.ods"
Created attachment 25867 [details] A list of suggested shortcut keys for frequently-used tools in Writer
My single most important suggestion is that the LINE SPACING tool in [Format- >Paragraph->Indents & Spacing] have a shortcut key. This is a tool I use nearly every time I fire up Writer, and having to tab to it gets really obnoxious when I know Word has always had an alt key for that. One should notice from the list is that the biggest problem seems to be that TABS in the dialogs are not given shortcuts. If someone wants to navigate to them using the keyboard, they must tab repeatedly in order to get there. It would be a good usability practice to make sure that a given command is as few keystrokes away as possible. Especially since this is a word processor and users will making heavy use of the keyboard, it would be especially nice to never have to lift one's hands from it.
(In case anyone brings this up:) While it is true that CTRL+TAB switches between tabs, I still consider shortcut keys for specific tabs to fast and intuitive enough to be worth consideration. If not, the absolute necessity for LINE SPACING and other specific controls to have (a) shortcut(s) stands.
Reassigned to requirements.
This Issue requires more information ('needmoreinfo'), but has not been updated within the last year. Please re-test with one of the latest versions of OOo - 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 : 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 ~