LibreOffice 24.8 released [LWN.net]

Version 24.8 of the LibreOffice office suite has been released. Changes include the ability to filter identifying information from exported files, easier creation of cross reference, better control over hyphenation, a number of new spreadsheet functions, accessibility improvements, and more.

Calc focus rectangle

Posted Aug 22, 2024 22:05 UTC (Thu) by khagaroth (guest, #109895) [Link] (5 responses)

Not a big fan of the new focus rectangle in Calc. At least they fixed most of the egregious bugs it introduced before releasing it and it's not as fugly as it's first iteration. But they really shoud have reverted it instead of going ahead with it despite all the complaints.

Calc focus rectangle

Posted Aug 23, 2024 10:02 UTC (Fri) by intelfx (subscriber, #130118) [Link] (1 responses)

> Not a big fan of the new focus rectangle in Calc. At least they fixed most of the egregious bugs it introduced before releasing it and it's not as fugly as it's first iteration. But they really shoud have reverted it instead of going ahead with it despite all the complaints.

I just ran Calc for the first time in some years... I assume that the cell focus rectangle being a few pixels wider than the cell itself, leading to basically a *double grid* being drawn around the cell is what you are talking about?

Looks ridiculously ugly indeed. If not for your comment, I'd have been inclined to report it as a bug.

Speaking of UI ugliness, what is the least ugly UI mode and VCL plugin in LibreOffice at the moment (my DE is GNOME, if that's relevant)?

Calc focus rectangle

Posted Aug 23, 2024 12:39 UTC (Fri) by pbonzini (subscriber, #60935) [Link]

The default one in Fedora uses GTK3 and is good enough for me. The switch to using GtkBuilder-style XML for all VCL dialogs (instead of pixel placement) a few years ago made the dialogs look much more natural.

Calc focus rectangle

Posted Aug 23, 2024 10:35 UTC (Fri) by yeltsin (guest, #171611) [Link] (2 responses)

I use Calc daily (though only for about ten minutes), and haven't even noticed the change. I had to install the old version and compare them side-by-side: looks like it used space inside the cell (covering small parts of text in some places), and is now being drawn around it. It's fine, I doubt the majority of users will notice or care either way.

Calc focus rectangle

Posted Aug 23, 2024 11:48 UTC (Fri) by dskoll (subscriber, #1630) [Link]

I did notice it, and I actually prefer it. GUI elements are extremely subjective.

Calc focus rectangle

Posted Aug 23, 2024 14:14 UTC (Fri) by khagaroth (guest, #109895) [Link]

It now instead clips content of the surrounding cells. Hardly an improvement. The bug had perfectly good examples of how it's done in MSO and GD, but instead of copying a perfectly sane design that doesn't clip anything, they implemented this abomination.

removing preceding blank pages from "Ctrl P" webpage saves

Posted Aug 23, 2024 12:41 UTC (Fri) by winlundn (subscriber, #140524) [Link] (2 responses)

I was trying to use an older version of LibreOffice to remove entire blank pages from webpage articles I saved as PDF.

When I moved my cursor to the spot where the article's text began and hit the backspace key, LibreOffice would not delete the blank space positioned before the text.

A developer on Fosstodon (mastodon) told me I had to use LibreOffice Draw and set up the PDF so as to remove the blank space.

I found this routine to be cumbersome, so I just used Office 365 to clean up the blank space. In the future, I'd rather not use Office 365 -- TBH.

Use a PDF Editor or Ghost Script?

Posted Aug 26, 2024 15:26 UTC (Mon) by gmatht (subscriber, #58961) [Link] (1 responses)

I would be inclined to use a PDF Editor rather than either Libre Office or 365. Actually, I would be inclined not to do it at all, and just let a script do it for me automatically, e.g. https://superuser.com/questions/1248528/remove-blank-page...

Use a PDF Editor or Ghost Script?

Posted Dec 28, 2024 23:48 UTC (Sat) by winlundn (subscriber, #140524) [Link]

Do you personally know one of the reasons I get tired of Open Source? Most of you all (including me) have never figured out a way to capitalize on it in *small ways* to make *some* residual income over time... Every time in most sectors within the USA it is the same song and dance. Work for a corporation five days a week. Spend maximum amounts of time giving your heart and soul to an admin or programming job and receive very little in return from management except heartaches and pain (and also make $100k/year if you specifically reside in the Silicon Valley area). All of you Gen X Open Source types are always working for peanuts (or perhaps nothing at all). Take GhostScript for instance. I've heard of it. I've used it a few times. It is pretty useful. So, how exactly does a utility such as GhostScript fit into the larger scheme of computers and networking? No one really knows since no one actually can or does ever take a position on this sort of thing at any time past the first use case. Regarding the likes of writing GhostScript code, these guys keep everything so simple that few get any credit for writing code and no one will ever get compensation for any residual effort applied from just using it -- apart from working for the boss man at a corporation which may utilize software such as GhostScript and they throw those developers a bone by including some licensing terms which are financially beneficial.

Musicians in America hate the royalties system. The record labels for musicians and music producers have a similar philosophy as the Open Source camp. It always means a lot of money for the top 1% and biggest selling artists, while it's just peanuts for the remaining smaller and unknown artists. How fair is that? The royalties system for musicians is not that fair if you ask me.

Back to software... Except for you, gmatht -- and maybe a few other older people here on LWN who would probably know a general answer to my last question if they really thought about how to answer... Everyone else on LWN is focused on the same old, same old systemd, kernel stuff, security, and ruby. That's pretty much everything. That is really cut and dry. That is why I'm ending my subscription on here. It's so mundane on LWN that it is kind of a little crazy on here if you ask me.

Nothing happens anymore in this area that is cutting edge. It's all non-direct technical support for both the server monkeys and Linux admins.

LibreOffice 24.8 released

Great!

Calc focus rectangle

Calc focus rectangle

Calc focus rectangle

Calc focus rectangle

Calc focus rectangle

Calc focus rectangle

removing preceding blank pages from "Ctrl P" webpage saves

Use a PDF Editor or Ghost Script?

Use a PDF Editor or Ghost Script?