Multi Pane GUI

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Draw/Impress

Document - ID	Specification Owner	Last Change	Status
	Andre Fischer	8/18/06	Final
Conforms to	
Applies to	Draw, Impress
Task ID(s)	OOo 2.0: i22705, i39858
Category	Feature

Abstract

The multi pane GUI of Draw/Impress adds two panes to the current GUI. The Slide Pane on the left gives an overview over the document and lets the user order the slides. The task pane on the right provides frequently used tools: These include menus of layouts or master pages. The center pane can show the same views of the document as before: Edit view, outliner, notes view, handout view. The slides view has been replaced by the Slide Sorter – the functionally is equivalent to the Slide Pane.

i-Team Members (The specification owner is part of the i-Team)

	Name	E-mail Address
User Experience	Christian Jansen Matthias Müller-Prove	christian.jansen@sun.com, mprove@sun.com
Development	Andre Fischer	andre.w.fischer@sun.com,
Quality Assurance	Wolfram Garten, Christian Günther	wolfram.garten@sun.com, christian.guenther@sun.com,
Documentation	Uwe Fischer	Uwe.fischer@sun.com

Document Change History

Rev. Level	Change	Initials	Date
1.0		AF	<Date>
1,1	Made changes as suggested by CJ.	AF	06.08.04
1,2	Update of the context menus (changed some mnemonics, removed the ellipsis). Added a short description of the master view.	AF	13.09.04
1,3	added MMP-1: default layout of Task panes	MMP	12/28/04
1.4	string and terminology revision for issues 48402 and 45336	EM	7/20/05
1.5	Provide Hide Slide and Show Slide commands for context menu in Slides Pane (row 125). (i43547)	MMP	08/14/06
1.6	Move context menu specification to Context Menus in Impress and Draw	MMP	08/18/06

Contents

Glossary	1

1	Motivation	1

2	User Scenarios	1

3	Goals	1

4	Requirements and Dependencies	2

4.1	Requirements	2

4.2	Technical Dependencies	2

5	Competitive Analyses	2

6	Detailed Specification	2

6.1	Center Pane	3

Controls	3

0.0.1	Master View	3

0.0.2	Details	4

6.2	Slide Sorter	4

Display	4

0.0.3	Frames	5

Context menus for Impress	5

Slide menu (the slide for which the context menu is shown is referred to as current slide):	5

Background menu:	6

Master Page View	6

Mouse actions	7

Context menus for Draw	7

Insertion indicator	8

6.3	Task Pane	8

String list	8

0.0.4	Frames	9

Master page control	9

String list	10

Layout control	10

String list	10

6.4	Multi Pane GUI	11

7	Future Tasks	11

0.0.5	Some thoughts about future improvements:	11

8	Notes	11

9	References	11

Glossary

Term	Description
Multi Pane GUI	Preferred over the term 'three pane view' because a) there have always been more than one view (edit-, outline-, handout-, notes view) and b) there can be more than three panes: in the future a fourth pane may hold the notes editor.
Pane	A pane is a window that is a container for a view or a control. That window may be dockable and can then be made into a floating window or docked at different places. Another example is the center pane. This window is always visible. ##MMP 18-Aug-2006: Panes are always docked to the master window
View	Views display a part of a the document or the whole document at once. Different views show different aspects of the document. The regular edit view for example shows a single slide at a time. The outline view and the slide sorter show the titles or previews of several slides—possibly of the whole document--at once. A view is shown in a pane.

Motivation

The multi pane GUI makes creating and maintaining a slide show easier, faster, and more intuitive. Concepts like the master pages are made more visible and accessible to the user.

It attacks several shortcomings:

The user can not edit a slide and at the same time re-order the slides or get an overview over the whole document.

Actions like changing the layout or design of slides are hidden in different and deeply nested different menus.

The management of master pages is scattered over various places of the GUI.

User Scenarios

<A user scenario is a idealized description of a specific interaction. This description shall be written short and specific. User scenarios can describe a leak of functionality, or based on the requirements, a solution.>

Goals

With the multi pane GUI we want to do the following things:

Give two different views to the document side by side. One, the regular edit view in the center pane is a detail view and shows a single slide. The second one is the Slide Pane in the left pane. It gives an overview of the document by showing multiple slides at once.

Give direct access to frequently used operations by placing them in the task pane in the third pane to the right of the center pane.

Make master pages visible and accessible to the user. By placing a menu in the task pane from which the user can select currently used, recently used, and generally available master pages it becomes not only easier to use master pages. It makes this powerful feature visible in the first place.

Requirements and Dependencies

Requirements

<State the requirement(s) of this feature here.>

Technical Dependencies

<Are there any technical dependencies for this feature? Does the implementation of this feature create any technical dependencies to other program parts? Or very important any issues for automatedd GUI Testing?>

Competitive Analyses

<Describe or reference to solutions which are already on the market. Describe what is done well or what is done bad.>

Detailed Specification

The multi pane GUI is centered around the view in the center pane which by default shows the edit view. The Slide Pane to the left and the task pane to the right have supporting roles. This is expressed by all relevant menu entries working on the center pane.

Cut, copy, and paste for example, when invoked from the main Edit menu operate on the center pane. This is different when invoked by keystrokes or from a context menu. In the former case the target of the commands is the view that currently has the input focus. In the later case it is the view which shows the context menu.

Illustration 1 shows a mock-up of the three panes. Several points are highlighted and will be referenced later on in this text.

Illustration 1 The three panes of the Impress application.

Center Pane

The center pane is always visible, i.e. can not be hidden (it can, of course, be obscured by other windows.) It shows a view of the document This view is one of:

The edit view for editing a single slide. It is shown by default.

The outline view which gives a textual overview of the whole document.

The notes view where notes to single slides can be written. [In the future the activation of this view may lead to the display of a fourth pane located below the center pane.]

The handout view for editing the layout of the handout pages.

The slide sorter.

The in-place rendering of a slide show.

All but the in-place rendering of a slide show can be selected from a tab page control at the top of the center pane. To show the in-place rendering the user has to do two things: first turn on that feature by clicking on Slide Shows->Slide Show Settings. This brings on a dialog where there is a radio button Window in the section Type. The second step is the start of the show.

The full screen slide show is displayed in an independent application window.

Some of these views (the edit-, notes-, and handout view and the slide sorter) can be switched into master page mode via the View->Master menu entry. In this mode they show the master pages instead of the regular pages and slides.

Controls

There are a few controls that may be visible (they can be turned on and off by the user) in the border around the center pane.

The view selector at the top has the following entries:

“Normal”

“Outline”

“Notes”

“Handout”

“Slide Sorter”

Vertical scroll bar at the right border. In the edit view it controls the visual area of the current slide only. This may change in the future when it may scroll through the whole document. This, however, has to be covered by another specification document.

Horizontal scroll bar at the bottom border.

Horizontal ruler at the top below the view selector and vertical ruler at the left border. The rulers can be switched on and off via View->Rulers. They are turned off by default.

Master View

When the center pane shows the Normal, Notes, or Handout view then the user can edit the master pages of the slides, notes, or handout pages. This is done in the master view (it is called view on the UI but it is more a kind of a different mode of the existing views.) An active master view is indicated by showing the master view toolbar (see toolbar spec for details.) When the center pane shows the master view then the Slide Pane shows the respective master pages.

String list

Item	English	German	Comments
Tab Page Title	Normal	Normal	
Tab Page Title	Outline	Gliederung	
Tab Page Title	Notes	Notizen	
Tab Page Title	Handout	Handout	
Tab Page Title	Slide Sorter	Foliensortierung	

Details

To make the labels in the view selector better readable they are painted with a space of at least 6 Pixel to their left and right borders (point 5 in Illustration 1.)

There is a gap of 1 Pixel between the top border of the active tab of the view selector and the enclosing window border (point 4 in Illustration 1.)

The enclosing window border is 1 Pixel wide (point 6 in Illustration 1.)

Slide Sorter

The slide sorter shows an overview of the whole document. The slides are arranged in a table where the number of column varies depending on where the slide sorter is displayed and how much space is available. This may be the left (as Slide Pane) and the center pane (as Slide Sorter). In the left pane it has one or more columns depending on the available space. When displayed in the center pane the number of columns is controlled by a toolbar.

The slide sorter has the following features:

Give a visual overview of the whole document.

Provide a fast way to jump directly to a specific slide.

Reordering of slides via drag and drop.

Composition of a new slide show via the clipboard by copying slides from other documents.

Preview of transition effects.

The title of the Slide Sorter is “Slides” for Impress and “Pages” for Draw.

String list

Item	English	German	Comments
Pane title	Slides	Folien	
Pane title	Pages	Seiten	

Display

For every visible slide four types of information are displayed:

The slide number. It is painted at the top left of the preview. It is centered in a box that is only visible when the slide is hidden, In this case the base is painted and the number is striked through.

A fade effect indicator. If there is a fade effect or transition effect associated with the slide then an icon is painted at the bottom left of the preview. Clicking on this icon shows the effect in the place where the preview is shown.

The slide name. It is painted flush right below the preview in a constant size that is the same as the UI font. When there is no sufficient space then the name is abbreviated by displaying three dots at the end.

The preview of the slide. It is updated whenever the content of the slide changes. Thus there is no need to show the preview window when the slide sorter is visible.

Details:

The previews have an initial width of 95 Pixel.

The page numbers are displayed in bold, the name in the regular UI font.

The vertical scroll bar is shown only when necessary.

Frames

There are several types of frames that can be seen painted arround previews:

The regular slide border is painted arround every slide. For slides with transparent background or backgrounds with the same color as the background of the slide sorter this tells the user the size of the slide.

It is one pixel wide and painted in the text color directly around the slide preview (not over it.)

The selection frame indiciates that a slide is currently selected. Usually the current frame, i.e. The one visible in the edit view in the center pane, is selected (point 3 in Illustration 1.)

It is three pixels wide with rounded corners and painte without gap arround the slide border. Its color is the selection color.

The focus frame indicates the keyboard focus. The focused slide is made the curent when the user presses Return, its selection is toggled when Space is pressed (point 1 in Illustration 1.)

It is one pixel wide and painted in black and white in a dotted one-on-one-off pattern. There is a gap of one pixel between slide border and focus rectangle. When there is a selection rectangle, the focus rectangle is painted over it.

The mouse over effect indicates two things: a) the the slide sorter employs a one click interface, i.e. A single click initiates the default action and b) it indicates the slide for which the defaul action is exectuted when the mouse button where pressed (point 2 in Illustration 1.) The mouse over effect also indicates that the slide sorter is alive and able to answer user requests, but that should be allways the case.

It is one pixel wide and, like the selection rectangle, painted in the selection color. Like the focus rectangle there is a one pixel gap between slide border and the mouse over effect.

The substitution frame is shown during a drags-and-drop operation to indicate the slides that participate in the operation.

Context menus for Impress

There are two context menus, one is displayed when the right mouse button is clicked in a slide, the other one is displayed when the right mouse button is clicked on the background. They are defined in the specification Context Menus in Impress and Draw

Mouse actions

The following actions can be triggered with mouse clicks:

Button	Target	Action
Left Single	Preview	Sets selection to the clicked slide. Slide sorter in left pane: current page of view in of center pane is set to clicked slide.
Left Double	Preview	Slide sorter in right pane: view in center pane is switched to edit view. Clicked slide is made current page.
Shift-Left Single	Preview	Add clicked slide to selection.
Left Single	Background	Clear the selection.
Left Single	Fade effect indicator	Show the fade effect in the preview area.

Moving the mouse with a pressed button:

Mouse button pressed on the background: a dashed frame is shown that selects on releasing the button all slides whose preview lies completely inside the frame.

Mouse button pressed over a preview: all selected slides are moved to a new location. When additionaly the control key is pressed then are copied to a new location. When the mouse leaves the slide sorter window a drag&drop action is started and the mouse pointer changes accordingly. A drag&drop action is started also when after the initial button press the mouse was not moved for a second.

Context menus for Draw

The context menus for Draw are defined in the specification Context Menus in Impress and Draw

Insertion indicator

During a drag&drop operation an insertion indicator shows where the currently dragged slides would be inserted when the mouse button would be released.

The insertion indicator is also shown while a context menu is displayed so that the user knows where a new slide would be inserted when the respective entry would be activated.

The insertion indicator is painted as horizontal or vertical bar. The insertion indicator is horizontal when there is only one column and horizontal when there are two or more columns. A horizontal insertion indicator is painted between two slides or above the first or below the last slide. A vertical insertion indicator is shown between two slides or to the left of the first slide in a row or to the right of the last slide in a row. The positions right of the last slide in one row and left of the first slide in the next row are equivalent.

Task Pane

The task pane is described in its own specification:

http://specs.openoffice.org/ui_in_general/task_panel/task_panel_spec.sxw

String list

Item	English	German	Comments
Pane title	Tasks	Aufgabenbereich	
Configuration menu title	View	Ansicht	
Menu item	~Undock Task Pane	Aufgabenbereich abdocken	issue 48402
Menu item	~Dock Task Pane	Aufgabenbereich andocken	
Menu item	~Close Task Pane	Aufgabenbereich schließen	

The task pane contains the following controls:

Layout control

Master page control

The task pane controls follow the single click paradigm where a single click with the left mouse button leads to the execution of the main action, usually the assignment e.g. of a master page to a slide.

Details:

Mouse clicks should not lead to the showing of the focus rectangle in title bars. The focus rectangles are displayed only when focused with the keyboard. A focus rectangle that is already visible, however, is not removed, when the title bar is clicked on.

The initial width of the task pane is 200 Pixels.

The main title bars in the task pane are painted with a raised one pixel wide bevel border. With this they appear to be on one level with the surrounding window. The mouse over effect uses a two pixel wide raised bevel border. This makes the title bar under the mouse appear raised over the surrounding window (point 8 in Illustration 1.)

The mouse over effect of sub title bars is the underlining of the title text (points 9 and 14 in Illustration 1.)

Colors of the sub title bars are those of the hyperlink dialog (points 10 and 11 in Illustration 1.)

Frames

Controls in the task pane that have selection and focus frames should paint them like those of the slide sorter:

Regular borders around previews or selectable icons are one pixel wide and painted in the text color directly around the preview or icon (not over it.) (point 13 in Illustration 1.)

The selection frame is three pixels wide with rounded corners and painted without gap arround the slide border. Its color is the selection color (point 13 in Illustration 1.)

The focus frame is one pixel wide and painted in black and white in a dotted one-on-one-off pattern. There is a gap of one pixel between slide border and focus rectangle. When there is a selection rectangle, the focus rectangle is painted over it.

The mouse over effect is one pixel wide with rounded corners and, like the selection rectangle, painted in the selection color. Like the focus rectangle there is a one pixel gap between slide border and the mouse over effect.

Master page control

This control consists of three sub controls which are identical in look and feel. Only the displayed master pages are different:

The master pages currently used by the document. This list changes when a new master page is used in the document are a previously used master page is not used any longer (either because it has been replaced by another master page or the last slide that used it has been deleted.)

The most recently used master pages. This includes master pages from all recently edited documents not just the current one. Master pages that are in use by the current document are already shown in the another list and thus not shown in this one.

The generally available master pages. This list is set up when the Office starts and does not change at run-time. All entries are displayed regardless of whether they are already shown in one of the other two master page controls.

String list

Item	English	German	Comments
task pane area	Master Pages	Masterseiten	issue 45336

Default action on a single left-click is the assignment of the master page to all slides in the document. The alternative assignment to only the selected slides is available in the context menu. Drag and drop is not supported to not confuse the user with different behaviors that depend on the time the mouse button is pressed.

The context menu has the following entries:

Apply to All Slides	The selected master page becomes the master page of all slides in the document.
Apply to Selected Slides	The selected master page becomes the master page of all selected slides with respect to the selection of the currently visible slide sorter.
------------	
Show large Preview	The previews of all three sub controls are set to a width of 144 pixel (+2 for the frame around each of them.)
Show small Preview	The previews of all three sub controls are set to a width of 72 pixel (+2 for the frame around each of them.)

Of the last two entries only one is shown depending on the current size of the previews. The default size (small) of the previews is 72 pixel wide. The large size is with 144 pixel twice that width. A one pixel wide frame is painted around the previews.

String list

Item	English	German	Comments
Control title	Used in This Presentation	In dieser Präsentation verwendet	These strings shall appear in one row
Control title	Recenly Used	Zuletzt verwendet	
Control title	Available for Use	Zur Verwendung vorhanden	
Menu Item	~Apply to All Slides	Für alle Folien übernehmen	
Menu Item	Apply to ~Selected Slides	Für ausgewählte Folien übernehmen	
Menu Item	Show S~mall Preview	Kleine Vorschau anzeigen	
Menu Item	Show ~Large Preview	Große Vorschau anzeigen	

Layout control

see MMP-1

The layout controls shows a list of layouts that can be assigned to slides.

The default action for a single left click is the assignment of the layout to all currently selected slides. The context menu additionally offers the insertion of a new slide (after the last currently selected slide) with the clicked-on layout. The list of layouts changes when the view in the center pane is switched. The normal edit view, the handout view, and the notes view all have different layouts.

Apply to Selected Slides	The selected layout is set to all slides that are selected in the currently visible slide sorter.
------------	
Insert Slide	Insert a new slide with the selected layout. Insert position is after the last of the selected slides in the currently visible slide sorter or after the last slide when the selection is empty.

String list

Item	English	German	Comments
Menu Item	Apply to ~Selected Slides	Für ausgewählte Folien übernehmen	
Menu Item	~Insert Slide	Folie einfügen	

Multi Pane GUI

For Impress the multi pane GUI shows three panes the slide sorter in the left, the task pane in the right. The center pane shows one of the edit-, outline-, notes-, or handout view, the slide sorter or the in-place rendering of the a slide show. The left pane is hidden when the center pane is switched to the slide sorter. When the center pane is switched to another view the left pane is shown again.

For Draw the right pane is never shown and the center pane always contains the edit view.

Future Tasks

Mouse over effect for items in the controls of the Taskpane. This includes the items of the Masterpage selector controls and those of the Layout control.

Some thoughts about future improvements:

Remove the modify slide dialog. We have the “Layout” control in the task pane.

The control that is initially displayed in the task pane should be "Layout". With the modify slide dialog gone we thus have a similar behavior as with the former display of the modify slide dialog that was shown after the Impress wizard.

There is warning box displayed when a layout is assigned to a slide that already has one. It asks the user about discarding the undo stack (with a rather lengthy text.) We should try to get rid of it and improve the undo management.

Use default layouts for new slides: the “Title Slide” layout for the first slide and “Title Text” layout for all following slides.

Maybe replace the default font Thorndale with an sans-serif font like Albany.

Add the context menu entry “Use for all new slides” (or something like that) to the context menu of the master page controls. To do this we have, of course, to implement support for a default master page.

Notes

MMP-1 (i39858) The Layout Pane should be displayed by default. For new presentations, as well as for existing presentations.

References

Context Menus in Impress and Draw

Multi Pane GUI

Page 9

http://specs.openoffice.org/impress/multipane/MultiPaneGUI.sxw

Matthias Müller-Prove

2004-04-13T09:23:37

Elizabeth Matthis