Am 20.07.2011 08:10, schrieb Jürgen Spitzmüller:
It is totally confusing that we have the menu Insert->Special character
that already provides the char.
I don't understand.
We have the menu
Insert->Special character
for characters but the space inset is in the menu
Insert->Formatting
So the space inset is a formating inset and \textvisiblespace is a character that you would not
expect in the Formattings menu.
Moreover \textvisiblespace is already available in the menu
Insert->Special character
via Symbols...
OK, this doesn't work on windows because
the Windows standard fonts don't support to display this character and one
therefore cannot even see it in the special character dialog. But we also
have the menu for special formatting characters and that is what
\textvisiblespace is.
Sure. InsetSpace _is_ in that menu.
No it is in Formatting not in Special character.
Inserting it as a space is illogical. I mean with a character I can really
do something, with a space not. So I can paint it red, I can emphasize it,
I can scale and rotate it - all because it is a character. All this cannot
be done with a space. Or do you ant to extend the space insert that it is
possible to apply character styles and font formattings to it.
So yes, the concept of spaces and characters is important here.
Of course I can scale a space. Compare "foo~bar" to "foo{\huge ~}bar"
I can also emphasize it. The difference is more subtle, but it's there.
OK, and with my solution one would also not see within LyX when it is e.g. painted red. Will this be
visible in the InsetSpace implementation?
Then we have the brace, the arrows, the line and all in InsetSpace (hfill).
These I can even paint red.
The implementation in InsetSpace is indeed better for the on-screen representation. So I'm convinced
now, but we should do something about the menu logic. Perhaps we can use the menu Insert->Special
character->Visible space that inserts an InsetSpace with \textvisiblespace?
But it is illogical that I can transform a real space to a character with
all the consequences in an inset that is designed for spaced and not
characters.
No. See above.
At this point I'm not yet convinced. I still think that also in the InsetSpace implementation, it
should not be possible to change a visible space to e.g. an interword space because their width in
the output will not be the same.
regards Uwe
