Bug 73068 - UI: Combo box dropdown list should open when clicking in the text field
Summary: UI: Combo box dropdown list should open when clicking in the text field
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: UI (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
Inherited From OOo
Hardware: All All
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard: BSA
Keywords:
: 69549 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks: UX Button-Controls
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2013-12-27 13:58 UTC by Tin Man
Modified: 2023-06-30 18:58 UTC (History)
5 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
Proposal explained (29.10 KB, image/png)
2013-12-27 13:58 UTC, Tin Man
Details

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Description Tin Man 2013-12-27 13:58:27 UTC
Created attachment 91225 [details]
Proposal explained

Currently, to open the dropdown associated with a combo box, one has to click on the small arrow to the right of the combo box text field.

Given that, in many cases (e.g. the font and style pickers), choosing from a list is more desirable than manual text entry, it'd be good if the target area for opening the dropdown was larger.

Ideally, the dropdown list should open when clicking within the text field as well. This is currently the behavior in e.g. Google Docs.
Operating System: All
Version: 4.1.4.2 release
Comment 1 Tin Man 2013-12-27 14:08:30 UTC
*** Bug 69549 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 2 A (Andy) 2013-12-27 21:07:22 UTC
for me this seems to be reasonable (reproducible with LO 4.1.4.2 [Win7 Home, 64bit]) -> marked as enhancement request

Or does anybody have any objections against this?
Comment 3 Cor Nouws 2014-02-03 10:58:42 UTC
(In reply to comment #0)

> Ideally, the dropdown list should open when clicking within the text field
> as well. 

Note the following behaviour:

- select the name of a style in Writer Apply Style list box
  (double click, or click Ctrl+F11, Shft+End)
- type a new name ...

So I'm not against making is easier to show the list, but it might somehow conflict with the behaviour I've described.
Comment 4 Maxim Monastirsky 2014-02-03 13:17:44 UTC
The ability to type into the font name box, used at least in two scenarios:

1. Graphite smart features, like 'Linux Libertine G:smcp=1'
2. Fallback font, like 'Arial;Liberation Sans'.

I don't think it's a good idea to annoy people (like me) who use these features, with a drop-down list every time they click on that box.
Comment 5 Adolfo Jayme Barrientos 2014-02-13 05:13:30 UTC
Also, I’d like to continue being able to type the name of the font I want to use. I find that much faster that having to open the dropdown menu every time. The same goes for the font size picker, which allows for custom values. -1 for this proposal.
Comment 6 Tin Man 2014-02-13 10:40:41 UTC
(In reply to comment #5)
> Also, I’d like to continue being able to type the name of the font I want to
> use. I find that much faster that having to open the dropdown menu every
> time. The same goes for the font size picker, which allows for custom
> values. -1 for this proposal.

Perhaps I might not have been clear: You would still be able to type in custom values.

To get a feel for what it would work like, use the font size button in Google Docs.
Comment 7 Maxim Monastirsky 2014-02-13 10:57:12 UTC
(In reply to comment #6)
> Perhaps I might not have been clear: You would still be able to type in
> custom values.
So the list will open on every click, even if the user doesn't want this list, which is annoying. Also when the user will click a second time in order to move the cursor to some location, or to select part of the text, the list will close. And this will happen with each click!
Comment 8 Tin Man 2014-02-13 11:37:22 UTC
(In reply to comment #7)
> (In reply to comment #6)
> > Perhaps I might not have been clear: You would still be able to type in
> > custom values.
> So the list will open on every click, even if the user doesn't want this
> list, which is annoying. Also when the user will click a second time in
> order to move the cursor to some location, or to select part of the text,
> the list will close. And this will happen with each click!

Please try it in Google Docs (only works with the font size selector there). It's really not as annoying as it's made out to be here.

And it certainly beats the annoyance of having to target that small dropdown arrow at the end of the huge entry box all the time.
Comment 9 Maxim Monastirsky 2014-02-13 12:48:45 UTC
(In reply to comment #8)
> Please try it in Google Docs (only works with the font size selector there).
> It's really not as annoying as it's made out to be here.

Yes you right, it's not so bad as I thought. The list doesn't close with each click. But still - personally I'm not using this list at all, and I prefer to never see it. So at least there should be some way to disable it, maybe a checkbox in Options dialog.

Another suggestion: In case the user clicks the editable area, we can show only recently used fonts (maybe with an arrow that will open the entire list. I think that I can live with this. We can also allow three states: 1) don't show at all, 2) show only recently used, 3) show entire list. And this could be configurable through the Options dialog.
Comment 10 Cor Nouws 2014-02-13 22:41:26 UTC
So if the proposed does not conflict with current use, it looks a nice idea indeed :)

Two notes:
* before introducing this, I suggest to take a broader look at various uses of selection lists in the suite;
* a possible alternative is that the area in which the mouse event for drop down is widened with some px (have seen this being done for other items too)
Comment 11 Thomas Lendo 2019-09-08 20:49:07 UTC
I also support this idea. It isn't disturbing for someone who wants to type into the combo box directly but it's an additional assistance. And the user hasn't to click on the arrow again if he/she want going through the list additionally.
Comment 12 Heiko Tietze 2019-09-09 17:08:20 UTC
Usually dropdown control with fixed content (eg. line styles, alignment options etc) open on click while editable dropdowns (I know those as "combobox") don't. What commenters call annoying is the additional action from the UI, which is not necessary if the user actually enters something. It draws attention and takes time, even when only a few milliseconds. The only use case for opening the list is when you don't know the content and want to get an overview; and this is achieved by the expander button.

It would be nice, however, if the available options are listed on typing. Like "Head" and it shows H1-H9. But that's off topic here.
Comment 13 Eyal Rozenberg 2023-06-30 18:58:42 UTC
I disagree that this should happen _always_. 

Example: The font family selection combo-box on the formatting (or text formatting) toolbar. I want to be able to type in a font family name without having half my window hidden by the huge list of fonts. If I want to see the list, I click the arrow-button.