Difference between revisions of "Notes2"

Revision as of 15:51, 19 January 2008

Please note that this wiki page is re-organized at the moment. You will find links to further proposals in the section Status and Proposals.

Introduction

Notes2 is a new project started as one accepted project in Google's Summer of Code 2007 (GSOC). It will be also worked on after the GSOC is over.

Notes2 addresses the revision of the notes functionality in OpenOffice.org Writer to improve its usability and accessibility. Main goal is to resolve the main issues of the current implementation, which are reported by users. Furthermore, the notes implementation should at least provide the functionality of the competitors in the same class. In long term considerations, it is intended to consistently implement the notes functionality in the other OpenOffice.org modules. The main target audience is the Small-Business-User.

Please note that the information in this Wiki is work in progress and may change.

The team working on the feature (in alphabetical order):

Requirements

Scope of the Work

• Provide direct and easy editing of notes to get rid of the old notes editing window.
• Establish good accessibility for disabled users by providing keyboard shortcuts or using appropriate colors.
• Integrate the new functions in the existing functionality, e.g. the OpenOffice.org Navigator.
• Respect the needs for advanced text editing, e.g. spell checking, rich-text formatting or sorting/filtering of notes.
• Create both fresh and usable visual design of the notes.

More detailed requirements have been collected and will be published here later.

Issues and Requests for Enhancements

The work will address the issues and request for enhancements: 767, 1981, 4964, 5487, 6193, 9776, 23465, 32232, 45788, 48150, 62625, 63759, 74157, 61644 and 80135.

You can use a Issue Tracker query to see all issues.

Competitive Analysis

Competitor software is discussed on the separate page Competitive Analysis for Notes.

Definition of Terms

The following list contains some definitions used in the subsequent text (in alphabetical order):

The following picture shows some examples for the terms defined above:

Definition of Terms

Please note that some of the following sections do not make use of the defined terms. The corresponding sections will be updated soon; in the meantime the different wording should not have negative impact on the understandability.

Proposals/Discussion

Look and Feel

Distribution of Notes Windows in the Side Pane

General Goals

Generally, the notes windows contain text (notes user data) and belong to a portion of the Writer document (indicated by the notes anchor). As previously described, the notes windows will be shown in the notes side pane. This section covers the distribution of the notes windows in the side pane area.

So, what are the general goals for the distribution of notes windows?

• Don't bother the user and let him concentrate on his work on the Writer document (e.g. jumping windows, blinking, flickering)!
• Show him as much information in the notes as possible.
• If you move or edit the Writer document (e.g. scrolling, inserting characters), try to keep the relative position of notes anchor and notes windows.
• If necessary, move notes if the text is moved too (e.g. inserting characters or scrolling the document).
• If possible, minimize the distance between notes anchor and notes window.
• If it's necessary to ellipse the text or to show scrollbars, use a smart logic to minimize further user interaction (by e.g. manual scrolling in too many notes)!

Proposed Algorithm

A first proposal for an algorithm:

• Notes have a maximum size that can't be exceeded, of course they can be smaller if there content fits into the smaller size.
• In case notes overlap if they get their default positions and maximum size they will be moved downwards or upwards to avoid overlapping. All notes anchored to a page should be evenly distributed on the page.
• The layout algorithm is iterative and always starts will all notes on their default position. In case of conflicts (overlap) it should try to resolve them, starting with the top most of them:
  • move the upper note upwards until the conflict is resolved, but not more than a maximum distance (maximum distance won't be an issue in the first iteration) and not above the page border
  • if this creates a new conflict move this note down again until the new conflict is resolved again; now move the lower note of the former conflict downwards until the conflict is resolved, but not more than a maximum distance and not below the page border (this can create a new conflict)
  • in case conflicts still exists repeat these steps
• If not all conflicts can be resolved try to repeat this with a reduced maximum size.

Reduced Size of the Notes Windows

What if the size (height) of the notes window is reduced?

• Use scrollbars inside the notes windows to access the notes user data.

The intention is to reduce the size of the notes windows. So it will be able to keep the smaller notes windows together and to minimize the distance to the notes anchors. At this point, the user will be able to see e.g. 3 lines of notes user data which should be enough to recognize notes, the user has already read before.

• If the height of the notes windows falls below a defined minimum then expand the side pane to make it possible to show all the smaller notes windows that belong to the corresponding Writer document page.

Some of our competitors just ignore the fact that the number of notes can exceed the available height of the document page (and therefore their implementation of the notes side pane.) They simply disappear - an easy, but no robust design ;-)

Alternative: Instead of showing all the notes, future implementations of the notes functionality will make it possible to select the notes to be shown. The user may be able to select "show all notes since my last editing". Then, the user will get only those notes which were created, modified or which have a reply.

Design of the Scrollbars

In some cases, the space available in the side pane will not be sufficient to show all the notes information. At the moment it is proposed to first use scrollbars in the notes windows and - if many notes have to be presented - the height of the side pane will be adjusted accordingly (please refer to #Design of the Notes Side Pane). (A detailed proposal how to deal with that will be provided soon).

Due to the fact that the notes windows is scaled in the same way like the document page, it is necessary to scale the scrollbars too. Using "original" scrollbars of the graphical environment (e.g. Microsoft Windows) will lead to following disadvantages:

• Users are not used to scrollbars of the operating system that can be adjusted continuously.
• Scrollbars of the operation system are not designed to work at low scale (neither function nor look of scaled scrollbars).
• They may look alien. At the moment, it is proposed to use the notes windows' background color to represent the author of the note. So, gray or light blue scrollbars are not aesthetically pleasing.

Consequently, we propose an own implementation for the notes. But what are scollbars used for?

• There is some information that cannot be shown completely (existence of the scrollbar).
• Provide the functionality to scroll up or down (arrow buttons).
• Feedback on the position of the shown fragment (bar, active/inactive arrow buttons).
• Additional features (less related to the function itself): feedback on mouse over, feedback on mouse click, mouse wheel support, ...

Design Proposal for the Scrollbars

The graphic shows the proposed scrollbar design with two alternatives for at low scales. It shows: The same scrollbar at different scale factors in normal view (for users which are not visually impaired) and a proposal in high contrast (for e.g. visually impaired users). 100%, 75%: Scrollbars with arrow buttons and bar 50%: Simplified scrollbar with arrow buttons 25%, 10%: A placeholder which does not not have any functionality. It may be possible that the implementation of "placeholders" or "buttons only" are not accepted. An alternative is shown at the bottom of the graphic which shows a step sequence to show the functionality: Step 1: A button is shown with on inactive arrow (top position). Step 2: Click on the button. Step 3: A full-featured scrollbar is shown, similar to the one of 100% zoom level. It additionally contains a shadow to indicate that this is a "temporary" control for that notes window. Step 4: After finish the scrolling the button of Step 1 is shown again. In this example, the user has scrolled a bit down. It is proposed to show this alternative "scrollbar-button" if there is few space to use scrollbars that enable direct manipulation. In general, priority is given to the normal scrollbars (e.g. shown in 100% and 75% scale). Please note: The option button below the scrollbar is intended to exemplary show the size and the distance between the controls inside a real note window.

Mockup of Notes Window

The mockup shows a notes window at 100% zoom level.

Due to the high implementation effort, the proposed scrollbar design may eventually not be provided in the first release of the implementation (we have to ensure that e.g. accessibility is guaranteed).

Design of the Anchors and the Connector Lines

The proposal for anchors and connector lines is not finished yet. In the meantime, please refer to the mockups graphics in section Mockups and Screenshots.

Note Connector Lines

The Note Connector Lines represent the relationship between Notes Anchor and Notes Window. Ideally, that first line of Notes User Data starts at the same height of the first line of text contained/marked by the Notes Anchor. So, the user's line of sight may just move on a horizontal line until he "hits" the Note. The visual style does consider the author of the Note (color) and if it currently has the focus.

• Position and Size:
  • The Note Connector Lines are drawn in the foreground (assuming that the Document Content is the background).
  • The Note Connector Line start next to the Anchor and is drawn horizontally below the text line.
  • If the horizontal distance between horizontal section of Note Connector Line and Notes Window is 0,5 cm (reference: 100% scale of Document), the Notes Connector Line continues directly to end at the top left edge of the Notes Window (for left-to-right text).
  • If several Note Anchors are in the same line of text, the Note Connector Lines are drawn (and layered) according to the text reading direction.

• Visual Representation:
  • Line width: 1px (Please note: It has to be decided if it makes sense to draw the lines at all - even very small - scale levels. In Writer, the red underlining for the spell-checker disappears at low scale levels. It may make sense to look at the code.)
  • Note has the focus (e.g. is currently edited): The Note Connector Line uses the "accent color" of the note's author in line style "strike through".
  • Note does not have the focus (e.g. is viewed): The Note Connector Line uses the "accent color" of the note's author in line style "fine dots". The rest of the Notes Connector Line (the space between the dots) is filled up with the color "background dark".

Anchors (Preliminary)

Some ideas for the visualization of Anchor Area

The image shows some ideas for the visualization of Anchor Areas. It shows: a group of Anchor Areas next to each other a very small Anchor Selection of one character some grips to resize the Anchor Areas by using the mouse (will presumable not be realized) an Anchor Area which was created by block selected text (will presumably not be realized)

Working with Notes

Creating or Editing Notes

This section contains the description of how the Notes Functionality behaves if Notes are inserted or edited.

Please note that the subsequent text refers to the number of text lines representing the Notes User Data. This is a bit unclear, because the inserted text may be formatted in (e.g.) a larger font size and may lead to some unwanted effects. Therefore we should initially focus on Notes User Data text in standard formatting.

• Creation of Notes
  • If a Note is created, the Notes Functionality must insert the newly created Note Window at a position given by the rules of “Distribution of Notes Windows in the Side Pane”.

    Example: refer to the graphic below, Example D, Step 1.2

  • If a Note is created, the Notes Functionality must sets the height of the newly created Note Window to a value that makes it possible to insert three lines of Notes User Data without resizing the Notes Window. (newly created Note Window: does not contain any Note User Data)

    Rationale: If there is few space available (e.g. for one line of text), some users “fear” that this will not be enough and will initially entering some blank lines to get some more room. We prevent this by providing enough space right from the start.

    Example: refer to the graphic below, Example A, Step 1.2

  • If a Note is created and the Note Window is not completely visible on the screen, the Notes Functionality must pan the view port area to completely show the Note Window inside the Writer Document window.

    Rationale: The user wants to see the newly created object.

  • If a Note is created, the Notes Functionality must set the focus to the newly created Note Window and places the cursor inside the Note Window. (inside: the area reserved for the Notes User Data)

    Rationale: The user may want to just start typing.

  • If a Note is created, the Notes Functionality must create the Notes Window with the obligatory elements shown in “Structure of the Notes Window”. (elements: e.g. Notes Property Data, option button)
  • If the keyboard button ESC is pressed directly after creating a Note, the Notes Functionality must reverse the action of creating the Note. (directly after creating a note: e.g. the user did not leave the note or added any information; reverse: the state of the Document before creating the Note is restored)

    Rationale: The user may want to revert the action of an accidentally inserted Note.

    Please note: The reversion should be undo-able with the function Undo.

• Inserting or Editing Notes User Data
  • If the user inserts Notes User Data in a Note Window and there is enough both free and visible space below the Notes Window, the Notes Functionality must expand the Notes Window to fit to the amount of Notes User Data. (visible: the space visible for the user; space: space in the Notes Side Pane; expands: expands the height downwards)

    Example: refer to the graphic below, Example B, Step 1.3

  • If the user inserts Notes User Data in a small Note Window and there is neither enough and/or visible space available, then the Notes Functionality must... (small: the height of the Notes is adjusted for less than three lines of Notes User Data; visible: the space visible for the user; space: space in the Notes Side Pane)
    • expand the Notes Window to fit to the amount of Notes User Data.

      Example: refer to the graphic below, Example C, Step 2.1

    • pan the view port area to completely show the Note Window inside the Writer Document Window.
    • Rationale: This is a very special case. If we want to keep the position of the other Notes Windows stable during editing, we have to chose this kind of implementation (overlap parts of the subsequent note). Anyway, we should wait for some feedback from the user base.
  • If less space is available for the Notes Window than it is required to completely display the Notes User Data and the Notes Window has normal size, the Notes Functionality must provide scrollbar functionality inside the Note Window. (space: space in the Notes Side Pane; normal size: the height of the Note Window fits to three lines of Notes User Data; scrollbar functionality: refer to “Design of the Scrollbars”)

    Example: refer to the graphic below, Example C, Step 2.3

Inserting and Editing Notes

The graphic shows: The insertion of Notes (Step 1.1 to Step 1.4) and the editing of Notes (Step 2.1 to Step 2.4) in different situations. The situations show different amount of Notes User Data and different count of already shown Note Windows. Please note: The intention of this graphic is to start a discussion of the Notes behavior. Hopefully, the graphic is self-explanatory. If not, then more detailed information can be found in the text above this graphic. The situation in Step 2.4 of Example D is a bit simplified. Here, the size of the yellow note is the same like in the previous step although there is some more text in it. The real size is based on the amount of Notes User Data there and in the other notes.

Open Points:

• What to do with notes bigger (e.g. higher) than the current ? I propose to not do any scrolling/panning if those notes get the focus (e.g. by viewing/editing). Then, the text cursor inside the Note Window should affect the scrolling behavior of the Document text and simultaneously the Notes Side Pane.
• Answer the question if the panning does annoy the user.

Realization: Realization required for first implementation of Notes.

Future work: At the moment we only focus on a static Notes Windows layout without any smooth animation and re-positioning. If animations were supported this would solve some problems and the described behavior should be revised.

Anchors

The Notes Functionality does provide a Notes Anchor to mark up the text portion which is related to the Notes Data. The kind of Notes Anchor depends on the status of Writer Document text selection when calling the command for inserting the Note.

• If the document has the focus and no document text is selected, then inserting causes the Notes Anchor to be dependent of the text next to the text cursor...
  • If there is some kind of word or string, then the Notes Anchor Area will contain the whole word. (refer to Examples 1 ... 4)
  • If no reasonable text can be detected next to the cursor, then a simple Note Anchor Point is inserted. (refer to Example 5)
• If the document has the focus and document text is selected, then inserting a note causes the Notes Anchor Area to span the current selection of the document text. (refer to Example 6)

In the following examples, symbols are used for the representation of other elements:

• Cursor is represented by |
• Anchor Area start is represented by >
• Anchor Area end is represented by <
• Anchor Point is represented by ^
• Text selection start is represented by [
• Text selection end is represented by ]

Example 1: The Notes Anchor Area for the text “This is some phone number 1030/73506|9495” would be “This is some phone number >1030/73506|9495<”.

Example 2: The Notes Anchor Area for the text “This is we|ird, isn't it?” would be “This is >we|ird<, isn't it?”

Example 3: The Notes Anchor Area for the text “This is weird|, isn't it?” would be “This is >weird|<, isn't it?”

Example 4: The Notes Anchor Area for the text “I do not think this is too good ..|.” would be “I do not think this is too good >..|.<”

Example 5 (with whitespaces): The Notes Anchor Area for the text “And then he said       |      nothing at all.” would be “And then he said       ^|      nothing at all.”.

Example 6: The Notes Anchor for such a selection “This is [some selected] text.” would be “This is >some selected< text.”.

Viewing Notes

(proposal will be provided soon)

If in doubt, draw the notes elements according to their document text position (document text position: considering the reading direction of the document language)

Editing Document Text

Editing the document text may have influence on the Notes in general.

Editing the document text has influence on the Notes Anchors:

• In general, the Notes Anchors keep their position relative to the document text.
• The size of the Notes Anchor Area is dependent on the the text it includes. If the user edits the document text, which is included in the Note Anchor Area then the Note Anchor Area will be adapted accordingly.
  • If characters are deleted inside the Note Anchor Area, then the Notes Anchor Area is reduced accordingly. (refer to Example 1)
  • If characters are added inside the Note Anchor Area, then the Notes Anchor Area is expanded accordingly. (refer to Example 2)
  • If the Note Anchor Area is reduced from on character to “zero” characters, then the Note Anchor Area is converted to a Note Anchor Point at the same position.
  • If the Notes Anchor Point is deleted (e.g. by using the backspace key), then the Note is deleted too. (Todo: If necessary, move this point to Deleting notes.)
  • A Note Anchor Point behaves similar to a normal character in the document text. This behavior is similar to the current implementation of the Notes Anchor in OpenOffice.org Writer.
  • Please note: The kind of Notes Anchor cannot be explicitly altered afterwards by the user.

Example 1: If the text “This is woonderful text.” is corrected to “This is wonderful text.” the Notes Anchor Area “This is >woonderful< text.” would be “This is >wonderful< text.”.

Example 2: If the text “This is wnderful text.” is corrected to “This is wonderful text.” the Notes Anchor Area “This is >wnderful< text.” would be “This is >wonderful< text.”.

accessibility

Several items are implemented to improve ease of use and accessibility:

colors

Notes have different colors depending on their author, the color matches the color of the change tracking feature. [[1]]

Notes Property Data

There is an additional place in the Notes Window where not only the creation date and time is shown, but also the author with its full name. Should the Notes Property Data not be shown due to space restrictions, the Notes Property Data is shown in a kind of tooltip when hovering over the Note Window.

keyboard navigation

CTRL - ALT - N (cursor inside the document) create new note at current position or jump into note if there already is one

CTRL - ALT - N (cursor inside the note) jump back into the document, cursor is placed after the notes anchor position to continue writing easily

CTRL - ALT – Page Up/Down (cursor inside a note) travel to previous/next visible note

Status and Proposals

The following table lists the topics currently worked on and refers to the more detailed design proposals.

Roadmap

The functionality will be implemented step-by-step. A first release of the revised notes functionality is planned for OpenOffice.org Beta 3.0 around April 2008, the corresponding Notes2 Specification is under development.

Functionality Expected in the First Release:

• Viewing and editing notes next to the document page
• Accessibility support
• The functionality which is already available in current version of OpenOffice.org
• Improved integration with the Writer change tracking feature (e.g. use the same colors for the authors of the document)
• Time information for the notes (besides the already available date information)
• Rich-text editing (e.g. bold text, numerations)
• Online help
• Support for the OpenOffice.org Testtool

Functionality Expected in Later Releases:

• Improved printing
• Improved print preview
• Search for text inside of notes
• Spellchecker inside of notes (underlining with right click spell checking already available)
• Improved integration with the OpenOffice.org Navigator
• attaching comments to a selection of text (ODF 1.2 will support this feature)

A more detailed description (or let's say developer friendly version including CWS status and links) on what is planned can be found at Notes2_CWS.

Other Ideas

Other ideas are discussed on the separate page Other Ideas for Notes.

Mockups and Screenshots

Mockup for viewing the notes	Mockup shows the mode for "viewing" the notes: different kinds of notes anchors in the document text: anchor point (represents a character) anchor selection a side pane next to the document page for displaying and arranging the notes windows (including some information in the ruler above) display of author and date inside the notes windows different colors for different authors (idea) a placeholder to just start typing the notes text (anchor would be placed at current document text position)
Mockup for editing the notes	Mockup shows the mode for "editing" the notes: visualization of currently edited note continuous anchor connector line highlighted notes anchor selection (slightly darker border lines) shadow for the notes window (whereas the shadow for the document page is removed) spell checking inside the notes windows
Mockup for a hidden notes pane	Mockup shows the mode for a "hidden notes" pane (just an early idea): notes pane is completely hidden (including notes windows) the ruler above provides some information on the notes information that there are (at least) some notes present in the document the notes pane can be shown by the control element in the ruler bar
Alpha version Writer