Layers in Draw—3 questions

[Ander]

Two questions about working with layers in Draw, please:

_ How do you rearrange them? (I assumed I could just drag a layer’s tab to the left or right, but that has no effect. Are you considering adding this intuitive method?)

_ How do you control a layer’s transparency? (Please don’t tell me it’s not possible… Every layer-aware graphics app I’ve ever used has been able to do it.)

_ When I add an object to a layer, than switch to another layer (by clicking its tab, right?), why does the object still become selected when I click it?

Thanks!

[Ander]

Never mind—I’m giving up and uninstalling LO. I’m finding that Writer and Draw are too unintuitive and suffer from outdated GUI design.

I figured that since LO was such a big project, and had forked from other major projects, that it’d be more up-to-date and easier to use. But it’s like GIMP, and the other kinds of apps you usually find in Linux distributions—written by developers who are too familiar with software to imagine what it’d be like for people who aren’t familiar with it.

Fortunately, there are other free word-processing apps that can read and save documents in Word format, and free vector-based graphics apps that are much friendlier. I just thought I could save some time by installing LO and covering both at once. Thanks anyway!

[Lupp]

Sorry. Although trying to be polite, I cannot cope well with fools.

[Regina]

What is called “layer” in Draw is not that, what you know as “layer” in other applications. A “layer” in Draw is a sort of grouping. We have already considered to rename it to “collection”.

Objects, which have the same “layer” (which belong to the same “collection”), are treated the same in regard to the settings visible/printable/protected/.

Use cases e.g.:

Measure your objects by dimension lines, but do not print the measure lines.

Put the grid of a coordinate system on one layer and protect this layer, so that you do not accidentally move the grid.

Make a floor plan of your apartment and put the furniture on one layer and the electrical installation on a different layer, so that you can hide or show them as needed.