On Friday, October 06, 2006 6:56 AM [GMT+1=CET], Adrian Try <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
> Adrian Try wrote:
>>> Change case actually changes the case of the characters.
>>> Font effects leaves the characters as they are, but formats the
>>> display of the fonts.
>
> Harold Fuchs wrote:
>> Sorry but I'm confused.
>> If I use Format>Character>Font Effects to change a selection from
>> all lower to upper case, it changes as I'd expect. *But* if I then
>> use Format>Change Case to change the selection back to lower case
>> *nothing* visible happens. The only time Format>Change Case has any
>> visible effect is if Format>Character>Font Effects is set to "None".
>> What is going here?
>> I simply don't understand the words "Font effects leaves the
>> characters as they are, but formats the display of the fonts."
>
> Sorry for my very vague answer. It was getting pretty late when I
> typed that! ;-)
>
> I use the case section for Format/Character/Font Effects when
> formatting headings.
>
> Lets say I'm working on a long document, and I've typed all of the
> headings in title case, and formatted it with the Heading 1 style.
>
> Later in the day I decide I'd like all of the headings to be in all
> caps. I can change the Heading 1 Style to format the headings so they
> are displayed in capital letters. This doesn't change the actual text,
> just the way they are displayed on screen and paper.
>
> The advantage of this is if I change my mind. The next day I might
> decide that all caps looks too much like I'm shouting, and I want to
> put my headings back to the way they were before. I just need to
> change the format of the Heading 1 style so that the all caps box
> isn't ticked. Automatically, all of my headings revert to their
> previous look.
>
> I hope this is a bit clearer (I'm at lunch at work at the moment, and
> a bit more awake), and I hope my example explains why the feature is
> useful.
Thank you for your explanation but I'm afraid I must be getting old or
something.
Why could not the effect you describe be equally achievable by changing the
characters? In your example you would initially change the Heading 1 style to
be all upper case. Then, when you change your mind, you change it back to title
case
I agree that "small caps" is different (see below for my reason), but the
others: all upper case, all lower case, sentence case and title case are all
switchable by changing characters. It seems very odd to me that all upper and
all lower are in one sub-menu while title case is in another and sentence case
doesn't exist (except via auto-correct).
The reason I think small caps is different is that upper and lower case are
represented by different values in the code set whereas I'm not sure that small
caps are. So it isn't achievable by changing characters. From a purely logical
("programmer's") point of view this separates small caps from the rest. From a
usability point of view, of course, it does no such thing. Why should a person
who has probably never heard of Unicode have to think as if they had not only
heard of it but were fully familiar with all its implications?
I can see a technical distinction between changing the character and changing
the way it is displayed. This is clearly how fonts work. An A is an A
regardless of the font. But I'm not convinced by your example that there is a
logical reason for having two different sub-menus and I can see a perfectly
logical reason - usability - for having only one. I am also not convinced by
your example of the need for using two different techniques, other than for
small caps.
Oh, I just read Paul_B's post on this subject. He makes a very valid point
which supports *my* argument. Would I have mentioned it otherwise ;-) ?
Harold Fuchs
London, England
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