I am considering possibility to submit a new Calc functionality request to get rid of what I see as a nuisance. Before making decision, I would like to know what others think. Here is the scenario that I expect will make it easy for every one to grasp the essence of the said nuisance:
- One clicks a cell.
- One starts typing some text.
- One makes an erratum which he notices a moment later after a couple more characters have already been typed.
- One hit the Left key to correct the erratum.
- One says «****** it!». (Language please! - @Ratslinger )
What causes the frustration expressed at the last step? The fact the cursor moved to the adjacent cell to the left in stead of moving one character left while staying in the original cell. The standard prescribed cure to eliminate temptation to send curses is to hit F2 prior to «Left» thus activating the so-called «Edit» mode first. That is fine.
That being said, there is one small unpleasant detail. It is difficult to differentiate between the modes. There are scanty visual indicators to judge whether Calc is in the «Enter» (I can’t understand what is the official name, sorry) mode or in its «Edit» counterpart at the moment. This nuisance is really non-existent, if one, say, enters a series of two- or three-digit numbers. But imaging one deals with complex worksheet containing various kinds of data, where lots of edits, replacements should be made and some new data are to be added. One must always remember what is the current mode. Otherwise, one will regularly find himself in situations similar to one described above.
The proposed solution is to implement automatic highlighting (by this I mean temporarily setting cell background colour) of the cell while in the «Edit» mode with, for example, light yellow colour (ideally, there should be possibility for user to set its own colour in case the light yellow one is used for other purposes or to turn this functionality off completely some where in preferences, if he does not like it).
It is maybe that I overestimate the seriousness of the problem. The fix is certainly not a «must-have». That being said, it is a pesky little annoyance to me. Please give me your opinion whether it makes sense to raise this issue with the developers (I suppose we are safe to assume the guys to have enough load as it is) by submitting an official request.
P. S. I am sorry for so many words…