Bug 372997 - SUGGESTION: KATE to have a ruler
Summary: SUGGESTION: KATE to have a ruler
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: kate
Classification: Applications
Component: application (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Platform: Other Microsoft Windows
: NOR wishlist
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: KWrite Developers
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2016-11-27 15:27 UTC by yereverluvinunclebert
Modified: 2019-05-20 16:42 UTC (History)
2 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:


Attachments
Mockup of Kate showing a ruler bar (306.93 KB, image/jpeg)
2016-11-27 15:27 UTC, yereverluvinunclebert
Details

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Description yereverluvinunclebert 2016-11-27 15:27:12 UTC
Created attachment 102471 [details]
Mockup of Kate showing a ruler bar

Kate currently has no ruler bar. It is a useful function to know the horizontal character position in the current line. Other advanced editors and word processing tools have this functionality by default for a long time.

I have made a mockup of the Kate Editor showing such a ruler bar just above the code window.
Comment 1 yereverluvinunclebert 2016-11-27 23:38:14 UTC
I always run Kate with the line number feature switched on and in combination with such a ruler, I could instantly find/report my position in the code as an x,y position. Yes, I think it would be very useful.
Comment 2 yereverluvinunclebert 2016-12-02 11:14:10 UTC
The ruler bar would only work for fixed width fonts. I would suggest that it only shows when fixed width fonts are used throughout the document. I suggest that the majority of users use fixed width fonts when editing code?
Comment 3 Kåre Särs 2016-12-02 11:25:45 UTC
I'm afraid this might be a feature that most people would not use. I don't have a big enough "itch" to implement it at least.

I think your best chance to get it would be to dig into the code and provide a patch for it.
Comment 4 yereverluvinunclebert 2016-12-02 12:36:25 UTC
Thanks for your comment. I still think it would be useful addition.
I am merely a javascript/PHP hacker with some deep VB6 skills from the past, not sure if I'd have the skills required to open the code and make changes of that sort.
Comment 5 Nate Graham 2017-12-06 21:32:49 UTC
I'm not sure this makes sense. Rules are used in page layout apps for layout reasons. Kate already has a column position marker that shows you what column the cursor is at.

But I'm willing to be convinced by an especially nice patch. :)
Comment 6 yereverluvinunclebert 2018-01-24 10:24:32 UTC
Nate

That mockup shows the ruler in use on the Context editor, it is a useful indicator and is there on screen at the top and by default.

http://i.imgur.com/JojdPW9.jpg

The indicator in Kate is a textual indicator and is positioned at the bottom of the screen. Not the best place for a useful utility, the bottom is where you hide things and as a result is often off-screen, anything that sits at the bottom is the least-required. 

It is a useful feature and I have had it in my past use of text and code editors. It is a visual tool much in the same way as the slider map is a visual enhancement.

It is a useful adjunct that could be switched on/off at will. Once you have grown used to with these sort of admittedly minor enhancements, it feels a retrograde step to adopt an editor without it. I don't see it as solely a word processor feature as it simply and accurately reports character position. 

Kate is proposed as an advanced text editor so it is a valid argument that Kate should have at least some of the functions of a good word processor.

I always run Kate with the line number feature switched on and in combination with such a ruler, I could instantly find/report my position in the code as an x,y position regardless of whether the bottom of my Kate window is off screen.  I think it would be very useful.

Whether it is a request that is worth the hours of programming is a moot point and down to the dev. team I suppose.

Try the context editor to see it in action: http://www.contexteditor.org/index.php
Comment 7 Christoph Cullmann 2019-05-19 15:05:50 UTC
Dear user, this wish list item is now closed, as it wasn't touched in the last year and no contributor stepped up to implement it.

The Kate/KTextEditor team is small and we can just try to keep up with fixing bugs.

Therefore wishes that show no activity for a years or more will be closed from now on to keep at least a bit overview about 'current' wishs of the users.
If you want your feature to be implemented, please step up to provide some patch for it.

If you think it is really needed, you can reopen your request, but keep in mind,
if no new good arguments are made and no people get attracted to help out to implement it,
it will expire in a year again.

We have a nice website https://kate-editor.org that provides all the information needed to contribute, please make use of it.

Patches can be handed in via https://phabricator.kde.org/differential/

Greetings
Christoph Cullmann
Comment 8 Nate Graham 2019-05-20 16:42:09 UTC
Kate is now able to show the horizontal character position.