Bug 65808 - punctuation in formulas ought to have uniform style
Summary: punctuation in formulas ought to have uniform style
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: ux-advise (show other bugs)
Version: 3.6.5.2 release
Hardware: Other All
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
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Reported: 2013-06-16 07:08 UTC by Yury
Modified: 2014-12-22 04:33 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

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Description Yury 2013-06-16 07:08:11 UTC
Just as the digits are always set uniformly (usually in 'regular' letters), the punctuation ought to be set uniformly, too. E.g., commas are processed differently if placed after blank and after digit.

The demo is simple. Make a formula of this:
0, ..., 

Commas are set in regular (after 0) and in italic (after ...). In some font faces (Charter, for example) this is fairly noticeable and gives formula a sloppy look.

The workaround is of course to put a blank (space) before comma/dot not denoting a decimal sign. However, this is not an obvious thing to do, and is not documented (at least, I couldn't quickly find anything in official LO Math book)

I understand commas and dots are guessed to be a part of numbers, so can't be (easily) auto-isolated.

HOWEVER, is there a must to treat punctuation IN FORMULAS as a part of the 'numbers' or as a part of the 'text'? IDEALLY, punctuation (and math signs, for that matter) should be excluded from variability in style and set always either in 'like in digits' style or in their own style.

In fact, ANYTHING not in 'digits' / 'definitely variables' categories should be treated uniformly.

It's quite a pain to insert, say, a ∞ or a 〉 (u+232A; rangle) [there are more] in a formula [to save time and effort, I often create formula from text selection -- BTW, is it documented?], and then to have it in skewed (effectively, distorted).

Bowing to TeX is a banality, but I've never before had noticed two styles of punctuation / math signs in TeX-processed formulas.

CONCLUDING, to fix this I suggest changing the categorisation of glyphs in Formula Editor to 'Variables may start only with letters' and 'Digits are digits' and 'Text is anything else'.

P.S. At the very least, the workaround should be authoritatively documented (wiki section on useful tips on formulas writing?). I'd write a quickie myself, but where is the systematic place for such page? The wiki seems to be for the developers, effectively. Buried under several tiers of links (not available readily on main LO page), too.
Comment 1 Robinson Tryon (qubit) 2014-12-22 04:33:36 UTC
UX: I bet you can formulate a good response to this enhancement request!


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