Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 5401
Make it possible to scroll one line at a time in the word processor
Last modified: 2013-08-08 10:18:11 UTC
When I use the arrow keys to scroll down in a word processing document, the text suddenly scrolls several lines, just like in Emacs. I hate it. It is so confusing to have to focus again and find out where the text jumped to. I think that when scrolling using the arrow keys, the scrolling should be only one line at a time, like in the following programs in Windows: Notepad, Wordpad, Word, TextPad. Maybe some would like the Emacs scrolling, and some won't (like me). So it could be made a user setting. And obvious place for the setting in the user interface would be in Tools | Options | Text Document | View | View, just below "Smooth scroll". I guess it could be a number "How many lines to scroll" which could be set from 1 (my preference) to whatever the user wants. Right now the setting is at about 8 or 10, I think, and not changeable. I don't mind what the initial setting is, as long as I get to change it to 1.
(Parag Mujumdar, 09/11/02) Hello everybody , I am using openoffice 1.0.1 on PIII system with windows2000 as an operating system.I am able to replicate he enhancement you suggested. Here is a simpler set of steps to reproduce it: 1.Open OpenOffice word processor with a text document (about minimum 15-20 lines) 2. Place the cursor in first line of document. 3.Use down arrow key for scrolling down the text 4.Similarly try using upper arrow key for scrolling up the text. Observation : Each time document scrolls for multiple lines (9 lines precisely). Need for enhancement : Focus is lost while reading a text document , every time , while scrolling using arrow keys. If it scrolls by just one line per key stroke , it will be simpler to focus , and reader will not loose any time finding the last line of text. Suggestions for enhancement : 1.Imply user settings in the program, by which user can set the scrolling lines per arrow key stroke , according to his/her convenience. 2. User interface for this setting can be located in program at Tools | Options | Text Document | View | just below "Smooth scroll". 3.It should ask the users how many lines to scroll per arrow key stroke , with some default setting to 9. Thank you
Please fix this as a user option in 1.1. I find it very annoying.
new
Reassigned to BH
A very new specification has been created for changing the described behaviour for OO.o 2.0. Please have a look at 'Automatic Scrolling Behaviour.sxw'on http://specs.openoffice.org/writer/index.html.
Closed as fixed.
I cannot see that the document http://specs.openoffice.org/writer/index.html in the current revision (1.0) mentions this problem at all. The document only mentions what should happen when an object is dragged, and this has nothing to do with this bug. Could we please leave this bug open until there is a real solution to the problem?
Hello Jesper, sorry you are right. I considered is as a part of that spec. There exists the option 'Smooth Scroll' in the options (Options / Tools / Textdocument / View). But that only refes to the scrolbar, not the cursor keys. Hello Andreas, is there any chance for the 'Q'?
Yes, we'll check this. It shouldn't be too complicated to fix.
We took a look into our code. Unfortunately there is not easy way to solve that problem. The function which makes the cursor visible is often used in different situations. To change this behaviour we would have to rewrite a huge piece of code. So I don't see a chance for 2.0
Thanks for diving into it; I appreciate it. I am a little confused why the function just can't be changed. Could you maybe give me a pointer to the function, so that I can delve into it myself and try to understand the problem? Don't get me wrong, I do believe you are right about your statements, I would just like to see in more detail what the problem is. Maybe I can't read the code, but I would like to try. Could I recompile OpenOffice with a different constant (1 instead of 8 or 10) and get the behaviour I want? Or is the constant scattered all over the code?
Issue 25483 is a duplicate: http://qa.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=25483 But I don't know how to actually mark it as a duplicate, so please can somebody else do it! ;-)
I would also like to submit my vote for either removing or allowing a choice between Emacs-style scrolling and the scrolling used by every *other* editor. I find OO's keyboard scrolling behaviour renders my arrow keys effectively useless.
*** Issue 83394 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
- As explained in 83394 this is also an accessibility problem. In my opinion the priority should be P3, not P4. - The scroll increment is actually not a number of lines, but a distance of about 2 cm, *in addition to the font height* (which you can see when setting the font height to 96). As the scroll increment already includes the font height, it may be possible to reduce the additional scrolling distance to 0 without problems such as disappearing cursors. - In OOo 2.3, the scroll increment corresponds to 5 lines at font size 12. I wonder if this has been changed since OOo 1.0 (9 lines). That suggests the feasibility to (optionally) reduce the scroll increment further.
Anything new on this issue? More and more people ask me how to change this, it looks like that this should at least be an option for newbies and people who come from other editors or word processors.
I did a new investigation on this topic in July 2008 and still there do not seems to be any solution on this subject. With five votes during six years time this issue do not seems to be very hot. I have been looking for a word processing program that works in Linux and MS Windows and I am not using the mouse so I have to use the arrow keys. The OOo Writer is therefor not an option for me. I tested Abiword and it worked rather good. But on my computer it is to slow, any document with more than 10 pages or with a few pictures in it, is impossible to edit. I often work with document on 50 pages and with a lot of pictures. I found the TextMaker program (www.softmaker.com)that is quick and fine. And it is possible to use it with the arrowkeys. It also opens and saves in the odt file format. It is a fine program but not free. Per Persson
To grep the issues easier via "requirements" I put the issues currently lying on my owner to the owner "requirements".
On my computer (running Ooo 320 m12 build 9483), Writer scrolls about 4 cm more than the current line with the arrow keys, which is even worse than with the mouse (about 1 cm more than the current line). On emacs-type word processors, aren't the page up/page down keys used for half-page scrolling, rather than the up/down arrow ? In any case, there are word processors which act like that. If Openoffice uses this approach, the problem can be easily solved to the satisfaction of everyone.
This issue is still present in Apache OpenOffice 4.0.0. Its relevance to accessibility was partially explained in bug 83394 (user with serious whiplash who has problems with sudden changes). I think there is another consequence of this, namely assistive technologies that track the caret position, like the Windows Magnifier (which can be set to follow the "text insertion point"). Sidenote: bug 117740 reports that Windows Magnifier can currently not follow the text insertion point, probably due to the fact that it cannot receive Java Accessibility API focus events. Bug 5401 will need to be retested when IAccessible2 has replaced the Java A11y API (see bug 107914), i.e. to see how it affects AT.