This is a RFE for OpenOffice version 3: I hope it's not either too early or too
late! I have three suggestions for usability changes to the Navigator. I think
that each of them should be easy to implement, and each would make Navigator
more efficient in its use of space on screen. 

The Navigator is terrifically useful part of OpenOffice: it allows one to see
the structure of complex documents at a glance, and move sections around very
easily. But at the moment it uses up more screen space than is necessary, which
means that one is forced to choose between having it open and docked the whole
time, but having an inadequate amount of space for one's main text; or opening
it only when one really needs it, but having the text larger. I don't think the
user should have to make this choice!

Here are three suggestions to improve its use of screen space.

(1) Make the placement of the icons on the Navigator more intelligent. At the
moment, the icons remain in two rows, even when the Navigator is docked to the
top, and is the full width of the screen. Could I suggest that, when the
Navigator is wide enough, the icons should rearrange to form a single row? 

(2) When you are in "Content View", don't indent the level one content. 
At the moment, if I'm on "content view", looking at headings, then the Navigator
looks as follows:  "Headings [-]", is at the top, and is flush with the left
hand edge of the Navigator. However, the actual Headings below this are all
indented by about a centimetre relative to this. As far as I can see, this is
just a waste of screen space. Why not have Heading 1 start flush with the edge
of the Navigator? 
Doing this would allow an extra word of each heading to be shown in Content View
without increasing the screen space used.  (Of course you'll want to continue to
indent heading levels 2, and 3 relative to the level 1 headings. And there's a
good reason to continue to indent in the current way when one is *not* in
content view.). 

(3) Consider removing the bar at the bottom of the Navigator which allows you to
select which document you want to navigate: I don't see that this is very useful
in the ordinary course of events; and it takes up valuable screen space
(especially when the Navigator is docked to the top). Perhaps this feature is
only useful when dealing with Master Documents. It strikes me that it  would be
more intuitive to just assume that the user wants to navigate the document that
has the current focus. 


James Wilson