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From: S. B. Gray on 6 Aug 2010 06:56 This was posted in 2003: "Selwyn Hollis" <selwynh(a)earthlink.net> wrote in message news:bgcupq$9qi$1(a)smc.vnet.net... > > Print preview should certainly be near the top of any wish list. (But > > if you're fortunate enough to have a Mac w/OS X, printing to PDF is > > almost as good.) > > > > To any such wish list I'd also add, in no particular order: > > > > * antialiasing of graphics!! > > * flexible top/bottom cell margins > > * serious undo functionality > > * real unicode support (on the Mac anyway) > > * better find/replace (e.g., replace all in selection) > > * robust import of eps and pdf graphics > > * less need for tweaking to make expressions look right; namely: > > ** better typesetting of fractions (size should not be connected > > to sub/superscript multiplier) > >** more consistent and reliable placement of sub/superscripts > >** more consistent and reliable spacing > >** more consistent and reliable sizing of summation and integral signs To which I would add: 1. Make word wrap work in a rational way. At present, it sucks. 2. Allow noncontiguous selection of text like MS Word (finally) does 3. Get a text menu displayed, again like MS Word 4. Allow making actual margins around graphics variable 5. Make the cell properties more visible (the stripes on the right edge) 6. MAKE THE FOUND OBJECT HIGHLIGHT MORE VISIBLE (when you do search) 7. MAKE THE ERROR MESSAGES USEFUL(Mathematica knows where the error is; why doesn't it tell you?) 8. Give some indication that Wolfram listens to its customers. 9. I expect a certain number of these suggestions and Hollis' to be acted on, namely zero. Steve Gray
From: John Fultz on 7 Aug 2010 01:31 On Fri, 6 Aug 2010 06:56:53 -0400 (EDT), S. B. Gray wrote: > This was posted in 2003: > > "Selwyn Hollis" <selwynh(a)earthlink.net> wrote in message > news:bgcupq$9qi$1(a)smc.vnet.net... >>> Print preview should certainly be near the top of any wish list. (But >>> if you're fortunate enough to have a Mac w/OS X, printing to PDF is >>> almost as good.) >>> >>> To any such wish list I'd also add, in no particular order: >>> >>> * antialiasing of graphics!! >>> * flexible top/bottom cell margins >>> * serious undo functionality >>> * real unicode support (on the Mac anyway) >>> * better find/replace (e.g., replace all in selection) >>> * robust import of eps and pdf graphics >>> * less need for tweaking to make expressions look right; namely: >>> ** better typesetting of fractions (size should not be connected >>> to sub/superscript multiplier) >>> ** more consistent and reliable placement of sub/superscripts >>> ** more consistent and reliable spacing >>> ** more consistent and reliable sizing of summation and integral signs >>> > To which I would add: > > 1. Make word wrap work in a rational way. At present, it sucks. > 2. Allow noncontiguous selection of text like MS Word (finally) does > 3. Get a text menu displayed, again like MS Word > 4. Allow making actual margins around graphics variable > 5. Make the cell properties more visible (the stripes on the right edge) > 6. MAKE THE FOUND OBJECT HIGHLIGHT MORE VISIBLE (when you do search) > 7. MAKE THE ERROR MESSAGES USEFUL(Mathematica knows where the error is; > why > doesn't it tell you?) > > 8. Give some indication that Wolfram listens to its customers. > 9. I expect a certain number of these suggestions and Hollis' to be > acted on, namely zero. > > Steve Gray Most of your list makes sense to me, but I'm curious about your point #1. What about the word-wrapping frustrates you and what kind of system would you find more rational? I could posit a guess at a couple of things, but I'd really like to hear what you're thinking rather than guess. Incidentally, I should point out that a some items on the 2003 list from Selwyn have been resolved in the intervening time. Certainly antialiasing and PDF import are in good shape, now. I don't understand the "real Unicode support" or "flexible top/bottom margins" items. Perhaps there was some contemporary issue that's not survived in my memory to the present day, but I'm not aware of causes to complain on these fronts. Concerning the typesetting issues...he pretty clearly explained the fraction issue, but the others would also require some explanation for me to assess and consider. Sincerely, John Fultz jfultz(a)wolfram.com User Interface Group Wolfram Research, Inc.
From: Christopher Arthur on 7 Aug 2010 01:32 word wrap is lousy for the input cells, but that shouldn't matter. Do you think it's good for the text cells? It also does hyphenation fairly well, imho... S. B. Gray a =E9crit > This was posted in 2003: > > "Selwyn Hollis" <selwynh(a)earthlink.net> wrote in message > news:bgcupq$9qi$1(a)smc.vnet.net... > > > Print preview should certainly be near the top of any wish list. (But > > > if you're fortunate enough to have a Mac w/OS X, printing to PDF is > > > almost as good.) > > > > > > To any such wish list I'd also add, in no particular order: > > > > > > * antialiasing of graphics!! > > > * flexible top/bottom cell margins > > > * serious undo functionality > > > * real unicode support (on the Mac anyway) > > > * better find/replace (e.g., replace all in selection) > > > * robust import of eps and pdf graphics > > > * less need for tweaking to make expressions look right; namely: > > > ** better typesetting of fractions (size should not be connected > > > to sub/superscript multiplier) > > >** more consistent and reliable placement of sub/superscripts > > >** more consistent and reliable spacing > > >** more consistent and reliable sizing of summation and integral signs > > To which I would add: > > 1. Make word wrap work in a rational way. At present, it sucks. > 2. Allow noncontiguous selection of text like MS Word (finally) does > 3. Get a text menu displayed, again like MS Word > 4. Allow making actual margins around graphics variable > 5. Make the cell properties more visible (the stripes on the right edge) > 6. MAKE THE FOUND OBJECT HIGHLIGHT MORE VISIBLE (when you do search) > 7. MAKE THE ERROR MESSAGES USEFUL(Mathematica knows where the error is; why > doesn't it tell you?) > > 8. Give some indication that Wolfram listens to its customers. > 9. I expect a certain number of these suggestions and Hollis' to be > acted on, namely zero. > > Steve Gray > > >
From: Murray Eisenberg on 7 Aug 2010 01:34 First, one can never tell ahead of time what might emerge in a subsequent version! Second, as to size of typeset fractions: the often unpleasant small size is akin to the default behavior the "gold standard" of mathematical typesetting, namely, LaTeX. There the size of fractions in in-line math automatically shrinks, but if you want to resize it larger, you can explicitly do so by inserting a markup command to say to use display style, which sets numerator and denominator in normal size -- with the result, of course, that the line with such an in-line fraction becomes higher than normal and extra inter-line leading has to be introduced (automatically), which can lead to unpleasant results. (So what mechanism would you want to control fraction size, and how would you want the inter-line spacing to be handled. (AFAIK, Mathematica does not a distinction between typesetting in-line math and display math.) Third, as to indicating where an error is: perhaps part of the difficulty here the very syntax of Mathematica. Syntactical scanning of an expression is not such a simple thing. Here I contrast with J or APL, where there is a fairly strict left-to-right or right-to-left syntactical scanning, so that it is essentially trivial to determine where an error occurs. On 8/6/2010 6:56 AM, S. B. Gray wrote: > This was posted in 2003: > > "Selwyn Hollis"<selwynh(a)earthlink.net> wrote in message > news:bgcupq$9qi$1(a)smc.vnet.net... > > > Print preview should certainly be near the top of any wish list. (But > > > if you're fortunate enough to have a Mac w/OS X, printing to PDF is > > > almost as good.) > > > > > > To any such wish list I'd also add, in no particular order: > > > > > > * antialiasing of graphics!! > > > * flexible top/bottom cell margins > > > * serious undo functionality > > > * real unicode support (on the Mac anyway) > > > * better find/replace (e.g., replace all in selection) > > > * robust import of eps and pdf graphics > > > * less need for tweaking to make expressions look right; namely: > > > ** better typesetting of fractions (size should not be connected > > > to sub/superscript multiplier) > > >** more consistent and reliable placement of sub/superscripts > > >** more consistent and reliable spacing > > >** more consistent and reliable sizing of summation and integral signs > > To which I would add: > > 1. Make word wrap work in a rational way. At present, it sucks. > 2. Allow noncontiguous selection of text like MS Word (finally) does > 3. Get a text menu displayed, again like MS Word > 4. Allow making actual margins around graphics variable > 5. Make the cell properties more visible (the stripes on the right edge) > 6. MAKE THE FOUND OBJECT HIGHLIGHT MORE VISIBLE (when you do search) > 7. MAKE THE ERROR MESSAGES USEFUL(Mathematica knows where the error is; why > doesn't it tell you?) > > 8. Give some indication that Wolfram listens to its customers. > 9. I expect a certain number of these suggestions and Hollis' to be > acted on, namely zero. > > Steve Gray > -- Murray Eisenberg murray(a)math.umass.edu Mathematics & Statistics Dept. Lederle Graduate Research Tower phone 413 549-1020 (H) University of Massachusetts 413 545-2859 (W) 710 North Pleasant Street fax 413 545-1801 Amherst, MA 01003-9305
From: David Park on 8 Aug 2010 07:22
One can control whether fractions change their script size and other features with the FractionBoxOptions. fraction = Style[(a + b)/c, FractionBoxOptions -> {AllowScriptLevelChange -> False}]; Then to write a Text cell with the fraction: 1) Write the text and leave a place for the Inline cell. 2) Put fraction into the Inline cell and evaluate in place. You can also control text format with the LineIndent and LineSpacing options. Presentations used to have an Antialiasing command, but now that Version 6 introduced it as the default standard the shoe is on the other foot and it has an Aliasing command! Many users might not be aware that Antialiasing can be turned on and off, not just for an entire graphic but also for individual primitives. If you are drawing horizontal or vertical lines then Antialiasing will often cause them to be slightly fuzzy and thick depending on their exact placement on the screen. By turning Antialiasing off for these particular lines you can sharpen them up. You will notice that WRI does not use Antialiasing on Frames and Ticks. David Park djmpark(a)comcast.net http://home.comcast.net/~djmpark/ From: Murray Eisenberg [mailto:murray(a)math.umass.edu] First, one can never tell ahead of time what might emerge in a subsequent version! Second, as to size of typeset fractions: the often unpleasant small size is akin to the default behavior the "gold standard" of mathematical typesetting, namely, LaTeX. There the size of fractions in in-line math automatically shrinks, but if you want to resize it larger, you can explicitly do so by inserting a markup command to say to use display style, which sets numerator and denominator in normal size -- with the result, of course, that the line with such an in-line fraction becomes higher than normal and extra inter-line leading has to be introduced (automatically), which can lead to unpleasant results. (So what mechanism would you want to control fraction size, and how would you want the inter-line spacing to be handled. (AFAIK, Mathematica does not a distinction between typesetting in-line math and display math.) Third, as to indicating where an error is: perhaps part of the difficulty here the very syntax of Mathematica. Syntactical scanning of an expression is not such a simple thing. Here I contrast with J or APL, where there is a fairly strict left-to-right or right-to-left syntactical scanning, so that it is essentially trivial to determine where an error occurs. On 8/6/2010 6:56 AM, S. B. Gray wrote: > This was posted in 2003: > > "Selwyn Hollis"<selwynh(a)earthlink.net> wrote in message > news:bgcupq$9qi$1(a)smc.vnet.net... > > > Print preview should certainly be near the top of any wish list. (But > > > if you're fortunate enough to have a Mac w/OS X, printing to PDF is > > > almost as good.) > > > > > > To any such wish list I'd also add, in no particular order: > > > > > > * antialiasing of graphics!! > > > * flexible top/bottom cell margins > > > * serious undo functionality > > > * real unicode support (on the Mac anyway) > > > * better find/replace (e.g., replace all in selection) > > > * robust import of eps and pdf graphics > > > * less need for tweaking to make expressions look right; namely: > > > ** better typesetting of fractions (size should not be connected > > > to sub/superscript multiplier) > > >** more consistent and reliable placement of sub/superscripts > > >** more consistent and reliable spacing > > >** more consistent and reliable sizing of summation and integral signs > > To which I would add: > > 1. Make word wrap work in a rational way. At present, it sucks. > 2. Allow noncontiguous selection of text like MS Word (finally) does > 3. Get a text menu displayed, again like MS Word > 4. Allow making actual margins around graphics variable > 5. Make the cell properties more visible (the stripes on the right edge) > 6. MAKE THE FOUND OBJECT HIGHLIGHT MORE VISIBLE (when you do search) > 7. MAKE THE ERROR MESSAGES USEFUL(Mathematica knows where the error is; why > doesn't it tell you?) > > 8. Give some indication that Wolfram listens to its customers. > 9. I expect a certain number of these suggestions and Hollis' to be > acted on, namely zero. > > Steve Gray > -- Murray Eisenberg murray(a)math.umass.edu Mathematics & Statistics Dept. Lederle Graduate Research Tower phone 413 549-1020 (H) University of Massachusetts 413 545-2859 (W) 710 North Pleasant Street fax 413 545-1801 Amherst, MA 01003-9305 |