Comment 37 for bug 1990673

LO version 7.2.1.2

Note: this comment uses “DPS” to mean “Default Paragraph Style”.

In the default template (and the “Modern” template, which I think came bundled with LO on install), none of the 2nd-level paragraph styles (one level below the DPS or inheriting directly from DPS) has DPS set as the “Next style”. However, the Headings style (and the Text Body style) is set by default to have Text Body as the next style. For people who use the template as-is, this means that the order of composition of a document will often determine its styling:

1. Users who start by writing a title or heading will likely have Text Body styled paragraphs for the rest of the document. This outcome is probably desired.

2. Users who start by writing a few paragraphs and then a heading and then another paragraph will have a few paragraphs of DPS style and a few of Text Body style. This outcome is not desired and may cause confusion.

Some principles I think most people would agree with:

A. The default template should not be designed with the assumption that users will understand the details of style inheritance

B. The order of composition of a document should not determine its styling

C. If the most-commonly-used paragraph styles are set to be followed by Text Body, the template is pushing Text Body as the main style to use for most paragraphs

D. Most users who *do* understand the difference between DPS and Text Body prefer to use Text Body for most text

E. Users who do *not* understand the difference do not care much what style they use and just want a consistent experience

All of this points to the conclusion that Text Body should be the default style selected when the Default template and Modern template are used. (A related issue is that the name “Default Paragraph Style” may confuse users, who will wonder why LO keeps changing the style after Headings to Text Body. Perhaps this should be renamed to something like “Master Paragraph Style”.)