Random thickness of Footnote separator lines

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#1

In a Writer document I’m seeing Footnote separator lines of different thickness, seemingly randomly.

I’ve looked at previous articles on this topic but I’ve found nothing that definitively solves the problem

Previous articles

(I’ve changes the links above to not e links so as to not upset the forum software)

My document

My document has three page styles, First Page, Left Page, Right Page

In each style I’ve used Format → Page Stye → Footnote to set the footnote line to be 0.1pt thick

However regardless of the Page Style, the footnote separator line will be either the correct thickness, or noticeably thicker, randomly.

It’s also noticeable that as I edit the document the footnote separator line can change from thick to thin and vice versa. I’ve not seen any pattern to this.

I’ve tried unpacking the ODT file to look at the ‘content.xml’ file but I can’t see anything obviously different between when the line is thick and when it is thin.

I export the ODT to PDF and the thick and thin lines in the PDF match the state of the ODT at the tme of export.

I would appreciate any help with this. Is this a known bug? Is there a workaround? etc.

Many thanks for any help

'ö-Dzin

Version: 7.3.7.2 / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 30(Build:2)
CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 6.2; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: en-GB (en_GB.UTF-8); UI: en-GB
Ubuntu package version: 1:7.3.7-0ubuntu0.22.04.3
Calc: threaded

#2

As explained in tdf#94015, it’s a visual glitch on screen; it’s unfixed, but it only affects screen display, not the final output.

#3

This may be a display artefact.

0.1 pt is very thin. With common 96dpi monitors, 1 pt is 4/3 pixels and 0.1 pt is 4/30 pixel, i.e. it is really smaller than a pixel.

When displaying small elements are quantized to the nearest pixel size. Your 0.1 pt line is at least 1 pixel high (it is always displayed because it is considered an “important” element of the page.

But, depending on the scrolling state of the current page, this separator may be located fully inside a pixel row or in the vicinity of row boundary. In the latter case, the line may be drawn in both row, effectively doubling the visual thickness.

The phenomenon may be amplified or mitigated depending on the zoom factor. What I wrote above is valid for 100% zoom factor and lower. The effect should disappear at high magnification.


PS:
You don’t “upset the site engine” with links. On the contrary, it allows visitors to easily navigate to the referenced questions. I re-eanbled the links.

#4

Thank you for your reply. Thanks to @mikekaganski also.

Thank you for re-enabling the links. As I’m new here there was a limit on what I could post

As far as I can tell this is not just a visual glitch.

  • It is identical in the ODT and PDF
  • It is random within the document
  • It can change during editing
  • It is still visible at high magnification (ODT file at 550%, PDF at 400%)
  • I’ve printed the PDF and what is on screen is still evident on the printed copy.

So as far as I can tell, it really is there.

I’m producing a minimal version the document as an example. I’m replacing the actual text with ‘Lorem Ipsum’. If it would help at all I could perhaps add this to the query in case anyone has the time to take a look.

Thank you for any further help and advice.

'ö-Dzin

#5

I have what I believe to be the same problem in LibreOffice 6.0.7.3. It seems to happen only at low weights or to be less noticeable at high weights. Lines at 9 points and 4.5 points look okay. A line at 2.25 points looks more than half as big as the one at 4.5. Lines at 1.125 points and below are definitely heavier than they ought to be. I have attached an example in which the footnote line and the footer line are set to the same size but are obviously of different weights.
Test_1_1.odt (9.1 KB)
Test_1_1.pdf (11.7 KB)

#6

@frank.trampe ,
LibreOffice 6.0.7.3 is 5 years old, you could also say a dead horse.

If you use new versions, there is a chance that errors will be corrected. If you use new versions, there is a chance that errors will be corrected.

#7

The visual glitch highly depends on the zoom factor. With 7.5.7.1 here, the footer border looks definitely more gray-ish and thinner at low magnification but the effect disappears at high zoom factor. I can’t tell for sure if there is a bug or if it is a display artefact. You have 72pt in an inch and my screens are 96dpi. So a 1pt line may be displayed using one or 2 pixels in height, depending on position.

1 Like
#8

@Hrbrgr, 6.4.7.2 is the most recent version that I have installed anywhere, and it also demonstrates the problem. What version do you have? Does it exhibit the issue?

#9

@ajlittoz, the difference also appears when viewing the PDF in evince at high magnification.

#10

@frank.trampe ,

97103 HB ODT and PDF
97103 HB ODT and PDF857×214 41.3 KB

With me:

Version: 7.6.2.1 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 56f7684011345957bbf33a7ee678afaf4d2ba333
CPU threads: 8; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19045; UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: de-DE (de_DE); UI: de-DE
Calc: CL threaded

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