Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 16342
Options/Defaults. Grid dots are hard to see (esp. on LCD displays) because default colour is grey
Last modified: 2013-02-07 22:15:06 UTC
Hi, I find the visibility of the grid dots on an LCD screen at 1024x768 to be quite difficult to see and use for laying out Form controls. I checked and Writer and Draw both appear less visible than the grid dots in Calc. The Calc dots appear blacker whilst Writer and Draw appear grey. I checked on a 17" monitor and they were about the same across applications and more visible than on the LCD screen. If there was some ability to make the Grid dots more obvious that would be appreciated. When I zoom in the grid dots do not get bigger so that does not help either. I consider this is a minor issue as I can always work around it using a monitor if necessary. Squinting also helps;-) I also thought the issue may be important to raise given the increasing sales of LCD monitors. Thanks Kelvin
SBA->Kelvin: In the dialog Tools - Options - Openoffice.org - Appearance, you can select another colour than the default (currently it's grey for Writer, HTML, Draw and Impress), Calc is black but not adjustable (see below). I modified the title to point out that the default should be changed. If this is not enough, one can raise the amount of grid points: In Tools - Options - Text document - Grid you can raise the subdivision level to get more dots (...until they melt to a line). I think this meets all needs and there is no need for bigger dots. If you disagree, feel free to write another enhancement task. SBA->MMP: The default shoud be black for all applications. Have a look at a notebook display and it is obvious that grey is close to invisible. In my opinion, it is not needed to offer different colour settings for the different applications so "THE" grid colour could be ONE general option as well. But the option to switch it on or off for the different applications must be kept. Note: I told PJ about the fact that the grid dot colour is not adjustable for Calc and he will submit another issue for that.
Hi, Thanks for that. A bit sloppy of me. I did all the testing in OO1.0.3.1 and rechecked in OO1.1Beta2 to see if the problem still existed. I was not aware the new Appearance option could change the dots so I learned something which is good. I agree with most of what you said and I am also glad some value came out of the issue. - Black dots are much better than grey However having a single global default depends on where OpenOffice.org is heading down the track. If OO eventually becomes separately installable modules then having options set in each module would make sense. If OpenOffice.org is not going to become a modularised application then a single global option is good but probably more difficult for a user to find. It is also important to note that as the grid colour is separate in Appearance and not in the Grid section of the module, users will probably not be aware they can change it. Having a black grid dot as the default will mean the default will be acceptable to most people. The suggestion to increase the sub divisions is a good idea. I find however that using the grid to give an overall feel for the layout and the sub divisions to find tune the height and width and placement of form elements to be a good way to work. The grid/subdivision approach is much better than say MS Access for this reason. (I've raised issue 15382 to resize a multiple objects which would reduce the dependence use of grids.) I have noticed some other issues with grids and will raise these as separate issues. Eg alignment with grid not accurate except in Draw, and a Form Text field created and snapped at left of grid can only be moved vertically which may be related to Html requirement. Your answers have covered what I've found and resulted in some worthwhile suggestions, so it has been more than worthwhile to raise the issue. Thanks for you time. Kelvin
accept and new summary
changed target to Office later
*** Issue 79274 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
About suggestion to increase subdivision: yes visibility increases but this is not good because grid snapping becomes finner.
I am no longer officially active on OOo. Please take over.