On Sat, 18 Apr 2009 08:03:53 +0200 alessandro rimoldi <ale.comp_06 at xox.ch> dijo:
> > But that is not what I was looking for. I assumed that "typographer's > > quotes" would be an option somewhere. Like I could turn it on and then > > Scribus would always use the typographer's quotes when I am typing - > > no need to insert a special character. > > > > I can't find the option anywhere. I know it is not trivial to add a > > feature like this, but all word processors do it, so it should be > > possible. Does it exist as an option somewhere in Scribus? > > typographer's quotes are very hard to get right, and scribus being an app > which is still under heavy development preferred to concentrate on other > topics. > > you have to consider that scribus is used all around the world and different > languages (and even some regional versions of languages) have different > rules, which may even be somehow complicated. you also have to consider that > quotes can be nested and that quote signs may also be used as apostrophes. > > so, for now, you have to manually set the correct quote for each case... Word processors don't always get it right either. For example, I was trying to type "because" using the common pronunciation [k?z], which is normally spelled 'cause. The typographer's single quote required there is the one that curls to the left (closing single quote), but OOo Writer insisted that it started the word so it needed to be the opening single quote. I had to fool OOo by typing a single quote at the end of the word and then dragging and dropping it in front. As for different languages, that is a good point, and there are also languages which have optional systems. E.g., in English the nesting of single and double quotes is reversed between US and other areas of the world. For this reason nesting is something that the English versions of word processors do not do. I can certainly make such decisions for myself - my keyboard has different buttons for the single and double quotes. It's having to insert a special glyph that is time consuming. I think the way word processors do it is basically just an autocorrect function, with the added feature of checking first for whether the preceding glyph is a space versus anything else. I don't think it's any more complicated than that. Maybe this could be scripted in Scribus. Anyway, now that I know the feature does not yet exist in Scribus I can stop looking for it. I'll just make it a point to do my writing in OOo except for the little tweaks that are always necessary in the layout.
