Design/Whiteboards/DocumentCheck

Note: This page is intended to outline a new idea. Please add your own thoughts in comments.

Idea Summary
The idea is about a "Document Check" functionality which checks the document for typical issues with regard to security, compatibility, content, understandability, graphical design and accessibility. The document check result provides central information on issues which have been found, where they have been found and - if possible - proposals to correct the issues. Usually, the functionality may be called manually by the user, but it may be also executed automatically.

Rationale
Today's documents are created for various purposes and published in different channels. Even with the numerous functions available in OpenOffice.org or being available in extensions, it still requires some experience to make sure that each document can be shared without problems. The following - rather simple - workflow shows the steps required to create or to edit any kind of document. Here, we want to focus on the step "Check".

In this step, prior the document is shared (e.g. printed, uploaded, converted to PDF), experienced users check the document for various issues. For example, a user may search for missing references indicated by the field text "Error: Reference source not found", look up non-embedded graphic files in the menu, and check whether there are hidden comments with. In any case, these steps require both experience and effort to look up the different places. What seems missing is a central place to check the documents for common issues prior the document is shared.

Goal: The user is able to simply check the document for common issues. Most of these issues can be resolved with the help of functionality available in OpenOffice.org.

Please note:


 * The Document Check will never be perfect, but it should avoid the most common problems for people sharing documents. That both applies to beginners (who don't have the experience yet) and experienced users (who require a more efficient approach).
 * Please note that many of the issues described below may be solved in advance with an adequate interaction design and some training. But even then, some issues may remain and both individual and business users may benefit from the Document Check
 * In professional software some of the proposed functionality is called "" to ensure high quality output.

Use Case 1: Sending Document via Mail
Sara creates a small presentation document because of the birth of her first child. She wants to say thank you to all the congratulators - and so she adds some pictures and a short video file recorded with her cell phone. Before sending the document via mail, she is asked to execute the Document Check which summarizes some of potential issues. She is told that some of the pictures are only linked and not embedded, so the receiver might not be able to see the graphics. A simple click on the proposed solution automatically embeds all the linked images. Finally, the Document Check also tells her, that the video file format is proprietary - this might cause problems for others, too.

Use Case 2: Keep Corporate Identity
John works in a large company which really cares about the visual style of internal and external documents. Thus, the company provides in-depth information how templates, colors and fonts have to be used to ensure high quality corporate identity. But, John finds it difficult to keep all the information in mind, when working on documents. Especially, since his technical documentation or specification documents are based on various sources and content types. Thus, after finishing each document, he executes the Document Check which informs him about potential Corporate Identity issues and also provides some hints to resolve these issues. Usually, everything is just fine.

Use Case 3: Printing the Bachelor Thesis
Michael invested a lot of work to write his bachelor thesis in biology - it is nearly finished. For the final review, he wants to give it to some friends. Since the file is rather large, he decides to share the file via an USB memory. Although he used the computer for years, mostly for surfing or mailing, he isn't sure if that will really work. The Document Check tells him that the document might look different, since he used a font which might not be available on other computers. Additionally, he notices that some graphics he used will only look good on computer screens, but may be blurry when printed out. He corrects these issues and copies the file.

Use Case 4: Documents for Everyone
Jane is a very active member in a non-profit organization. Recently, she agreed to take over the work on the internal magazin for the members and other interested people. After finishing the draft, she executes the Document Check which provides useful information on the style of the document. She is told that the document might look better when using less different font types and sizes. Additionally, the readability analysis proposes to use less complex sentence structures. Finally, the Document Check informs her about some color combinations which might make reading very difficult for people with limited eyesight (color blindness) - approx. 7% of men are affected. She didn't know about that, so she jumps to the page with a click and changes the document accordingly.

Draft Mockups (Only to Communicate the Idea)
The following mockups are only meant to communicate the basic idea. It is not intended to show the final functionality. However, if you have any problems how to improve the interaction design, then please add comments or add own mockups. Thanks!

Proposed Items to be Checked
The following lists contains idea what items to be checked. The list may be incomplete and does not provide any prioritization or feasibility.

Functionality
The Document Check functionality ...


 * ... should either be called manually or prior to other functionality (e.g. sending document via email)
 * ... should, if possible, help to resolve the issues automatically
 * ... should be able to directly refer to the problematic areas in the document
 * ... should provide information which is easy to understand for the desired target group (e.g. explaining relationships in the most appropriate way, e.g. when explaining color blindness)
 * ... should contain pre-defined sets for certain output media (e.g. checking before document gets printed)
 * ... should provide the ability to define user-defined sets of what to be checked
 * ... should be able to access external data sources that provide information on what to be checked (e.g. a corporate compliance server contains most current information)
 * ... add your idea

Further Thoughts

 * The functionality is somehow related to the already available AutoCorrect
 * The current naming "Document Check" is preliminary and may change

Examples in Other Software
Following are some programs with similar functionality. Although not directly identical, these should give some ideas of how this (or at least portions of the above) could be implemented. Please add any more if you have knowledge of them.


 * AutoCAD Standards Checker
 * Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2010 Compatibility Checker
 * Accessibility Checker in Microsoft Excel 2010, PowerPoint 2010, Word 2010
 * AccessODF extension for LibreOffice Writer

Comments
Please add your comments below or on the talk page.