Several days ago Rizal Muttaqin, one of the designers of the LibreOffice office suite, unveiled by posting on your blog, the possible development plan that developers may already be carrying out internally in the LibreOffice 8.0 user interface.
In his publication we can notice that the most notable innovation they plan to work on developers is the integrated eyelash holder, through which you can quickly switch between different documents, similar to how the switch is made in web browsers between the different open tabs of websites.
Here's a pretty promising UX plan for the future.
- There are several tabs to work on documents at the same time. The good news is that these tabs can be dragged and detached like tabs in a browser.
The Start Center is still accessible at the top right. In fact, you don't have to close all the documents like before to access the Start Center.
Traditional menus (File, Edit, View, etc.) can still be accessed through the drop-down menu on the Menu tab. This menu tab itself is like the MS Office main menu, providing the main commands such as printing, document properties, and the like.
About the design it is mentioned that if necessary, each tab can be undocked in the form of a separate window, or vice versa, converting the window into a tab, which basically is almost the same as the functionality in the open tabs of a website on a browser, with which any user can easily adapt to this new functionality.
Furthermore, it is also mentioned that all tabs can be collapsed in the drop-down list available by pressing the «^» button.
While a LibreOffice button is also planned to be displayed in the header which launches the initial interface that was previously displayed when starting or closing all documents, allowing the user to open a file, visually evaluate recently opened documents, or create a new document based on a template.
- You can continue to use the standard / classic / traditional interface by accessing the icon of the image of the shirt in the upper right.
- There is a global search tool that has the function of providing quick access to various available commands such as HUD or Tell Me, this global search tool can be used to find recent files and help content as well.
- Tabbed UI notebook bar can be collapsed so that only the tabs remain with the ^ icon in the upper right.
We can also notice in the image of the proposed design that instead of the classic menu bar (File, Edit, View, etc.), now it is intended to offer a new panel with commands basic and essential such as printing, as well as tabs to switch toolbars.
On the other hand, we can also note that all functions that were in the previous menu bar have been moved to the dropdown menu displayed when a separate menu button is pressed. The panel is also intended to be redesigned, since it is planned that it will show a new search form that, in addition to the content of the document, includes various search commands, comments and the help system.
Finally, we can also see that in the upper right corner there is a new button which will serve to quickly switch between design styles, that is, return to classic, traditional or standard.
Of course, all of this would only be possible if more and more talented and timely people came together to contribute and this post doesn't really represent the LibreOffice design team at all. We always lack people who want to help.
Finally if you are interested in knowing more about it, I invite you to take a tour of the Rizal Muttaqin blog, the link is this.