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Formatting failures...

Jensen
1-Newbie

Formatting failures...

Why is it that the 'superscript' keyboard command in the Format:Text dialog box doesn't work? (the rest do)

Why is it that CTRL-B, CTRL-I, and CTRL-U don't work to bold, italicize, and underline selected font in a text region?

I am just getting back to using MathCad and realizing through my observations and verified through these forums that Mathcad has gone substantially downhill.

Good grief!
Dr. Roy Jensen
Chemistry, Grant MacEwan University
6 REPLIES 6

I second these!

Preston

The 'superscript' command in the Format >Text dialog box works for me in Mathcad 14. It only works on text.


Mona
RichardJ
19-Tanzanite
(To:Jensen)

On 1/6/2010 2:22:22 AM, Jensen wrote:
>Why is it that the
>'superscript' keyboard command
>in the Format:Text dialog box
>doesn't work? (the rest do)

It works fine for me. Which version of Mathcad are you using?

>Why is it that CTRL-B, CTRL-I,
>and CTRL-U don't work to bold,
>italicize, and underline
>selected font in a text
>region?

Because nobody implemented them.

>I am just getting back to
>using MathCad and realizing
>through my observations and
>verified through these forums
>that Mathcad has gone
>substantially downhill.

I'm not sure why you think these are indicators of a downhill path for Mathcad. The superscripting works, and the hot keys have never been implemented. I agree they would be a nice feature, but the situation is no worse than it ever was.

As for a general downhill slide in Mathcad, that depends on which versions you are comparing, and which features you are comparing. Version 11 was the best version to that point. Version 12 sucked for many reasons, one of the main ones being that it introduced static type checking (a.k.a. static unit checking, a.k.a. SUC). That causes problems sometimes, and is therefore not popular. Most of the time though, you would not even notice the change. From version 12 to version 13 things improved, but not back to where 11 was. From version 13 to version 14 things improved again, but they changed the symbolic processor from Maple to Mupad. Sometimes that's better, but more often it's worse. And we still have SUC. With the exception of the symbolic processor and SUC though, 14 is better than 11. I currently have versions 11 and 14 installed (and 13, although only for testing purposes) and I use 14 as my default. I only switch to 11 when I have to.

Richard

Keyboard commands are much faster than the mouse.
In science, superscripts and subscripts are ubiquitous.

To access the Format:Text menu using keyboard commands, you press Alt-O, T.
Then pressing Alt-K strike-through the selected text.
Then pressing Alt-U underlines the selected text.
Then pressing Alt-B subscripts the selected text.
Then pressing Alt-P ***DOES ABSOLUTELY NOTHING***.
Despite P being underlined as the superscript keyboard command.

Roy Jensen
RichardJ
19-Tanzanite
(To:Jensen)

On 1/7/2010 12:24:09 AM, Jensen wrote:

>To access the Format:Text menu
>using keyboard commands, you
>press Alt-O, T.
>Then pressing Alt-K
>strike-through the selected
>text.
>Then pressing Alt-U underlines
>the selected text.
>Then pressing Alt-B subscripts
>the selected text.
>Then pressing Alt-P ***DOES
>ABSOLUTELY NOTHING***.
>Despite P being underlined as
>the superscript keyboard
>command.

Now I see what you mean. I have never noticed it because I never access the superscripts or subscripts that way.

>Keyboard commands are much
>faster than the mouse.

Usually, but not always.

>In science, superscripts and
>subscripts are ubiquitous.

I agree. That's why I modified my formatting toolbar to include the icons for superscript and subscript. In this case, IMHO, one mouse click is faster than 4 key presses anyway.

Of course, what would be ideal is a key combination that would just allow us to super or subscript with one keystroke!

Richard

>Of course, what would be ideal is a key combination that would just allow us to super or subscript with one keystroke!

Microsoft Word -- thankfully -- still retains the keyboard commands for most (all?) menu options.
Superscript is Ctrl-+
Subscript is Ctrl-=

And, I guarantee that me pressing four keys (Alt-O, T, Alt-U) is faster than you moving your mouse from the keyboard to the mouse, finding where the pointer is on the screen, moving to the superscript icon, pressing the icon, and then moving your hand back to the keyboard to type the next character. I GUARANTEE IT.

Roy Jensen

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