inkscape - How does the P1 translation column horizontal shift (and other fields) work?

I really like Inkscape and I enjoy doing things in it, but even after using it for a while I have to say that many functions are obscure and counter intuitive (like the gradient editor).

My current problem is following: I'm trying to tile vertical line several times next to itself equidistantly. Like this, but all spaces equal:

So I tried to create Tiled clones. After several google searched I finally (manually) discovered that this function is located in Edit -> Clone -> Create Tiled Clones.
Then I started to meddle with the function itself.

On the image you can see that even though I configured 200% horizontal spaces for every column (and the result should have 3 columns) the lines are all on one place. If I set n% vertical shift for every column, the result is following (it works):

I guess I misunderstood the GUI tooltips and field names. Could you explain what each settings on this tab means and how should I use them all to produce desired result?

Please do not omit the full explanation for other visitors.

Answer

What you are encountering is indeed a bug, which probably originates from the tiled-clones tool regarding lines to be of zero width. And as the distances used for horizontal tiling are based on the width of the object, nothing happens if you tile horizontally. If you tilt your line slightly or take a rectangle instead, the tool works as expected (and it’s easy to explore the meaning of the individual controls with this).

An alternative way to achieve your goal is the following:

1. 
   

   Create as many clones of your line as desired.

   
   



2. 
   

   Move one clone to the right (holding Ctrl) as far as you desire your right-most clone to be.

   
   


3. 
   

   Select all clones.

   
   


4. 
   

   Apply distribute centres equidistantly horizontally from the align and distribute tab.