GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 722273
Pattern conversions on the fly (as you type) when composing email (e.g. should replace [1] with ¹)
Last modified: 2021-07-05 13:27:55 UTC
It would be great if the composer could replace all [1] patterns with ¹ and the like, as you type.
I suspect we'd have to do something different than simply replacing [1] with superscript 1. I know it's an agreed-upon standard (kind of like *bold* and _italics_) but it's not necessarily what everyone wants. I think this could be solved in one of two ways: * Add super- and subscript formatting controls to the composer edit tools. * Offer a smarty-style input format where [1] (and *bold* and _italics_) are transformed by the composer. I've thought about the second one in the past, which is why I bring it up.
Jim, I don't think this is the same case as things like *bold* or /italics/, because to change something *bold* to "real looking bold" you would need to use format/markup/HTML (or whatever is called) in the e-mail (as opposed to a plain text email). However, ¹ is just a character which can be used in plain text emails AFAIU.
As ¹ can be easily typed by the user, I don't see why Geary should get in the way and change what the user is writing. If I want to write [1], I want to be free of doing it; same if I want to use ¹. For the smarty-style input format, we have already bug 739464 (markdown support). IMO add super and subscript formatting controls to the composer toolbar would be overkill. I would close this as WONTFIX. But I'll leave the decision to Mike (lead developer).
> As ¹ can be easily typed by the user, I don't think so. If it had been easy to type it for me, I wouldn't have filed this bug :)
Yes, I understand. The point is that I'm afraid that adding it to the composer toolbar would be a waste of space, especially if you consider that super/sub-scripts are not widely used. In fact Gmail, for example, does not provide any superscript/subscript option in its rich formatting toolbar. However, you are right that it's not that easy. I can easily type ¹, ² and ³ using "Alt right + number" on my keyboard. But what about the other numbers? I searched and found a solution here: https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/tips-specialchars.html.en I've defined the Compose Key in my system settings and now I can enter any subscript with the key sequence: ComposeKey + ^ + number
of course I meant /any superscript/
> If I want to write [1], I want to be free of doing it; I guess then that you disable the autocorrect in your phone right? :) This is just a feature suggestion. Of course, if this feature is implemented there should probably be a way to disable it*, like you can disable the autocorrect in your phone. * There could be two ways to disable: - disable always: in the preferences - disable as you go: you type the pattern, it gets converted, then you hit CTRL+Z to undo the conversion
(In reply to Andrés G. Aragoneses (IRC: knocte) from comment #7) > > If I want to write [1], I want to be free of doing it; > > I guess then that you disable the autocorrect in your phone right? :) > No :) Indeed, autocorrect would be useful when using a device without physical keyboard. I'll mark this as dependent on bug 756553 > This is just a feature suggestion. Of course, if this feature is implemented > there should probably be a way to disable it*, like you can disable the > autocorrect in your phone. > > * There could be two ways to disable: > - disable always: in the preferences > - disable as you go: you type the pattern, it gets converted, then you hit > CTRL+Z to undo the conversion I like this approach. I just wonder if autocorrection should be set as a system-wide setting or per application (or both). See also the comment in #756553.
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