X bar / Not X

[keyosuke]

I use Atlantis for almost everything, but when it comes to writing boolean algebra I am stuck using something else because I can't write letters with overscores. In MS Word there are many ways to make an X with a horizontal line one pixil above it, which can been seen at the following link.

http://www.gwinn.us/how-to/x-bar.html

I would like a way to create a new symbol in Atlantis, such as by combining the overscore character with a letter character (overlaying?) and then make that an autocorrection. I would like to be able to set it so that when I type /X-bar in Atlantis, it autocorrects to the symbol I have made. Maybe I can do this with images I add, but cna I autocorrect to an image? Another thing is that I have to write greek symbols in my math equations, such a sigma in probability and statistics and physics, or theta for a measure of degrees. I often add an autocorrection to autocorrect so that when I type /sigma , it autocorrects to a sigma symbol which I get from character map. A problem with this approach is that there is no way to save my database of autocorrection terms to a file, so that I can use it on another PC. Instead, I have to manually add all autocorrections to the other PCs atlantis. Please think about adding a way to export the autocorrection database or word list or whatever you call it, to save me tons of time, and if anyone else likes what I said please say something as well, like a "right on, man".

Another thing I was thinking about is ... maybe Atlantis could have a feature to insert a character at a specific coordinate instead of a line. This would allow anyone to make an X-bar or any other custom combination of characters they want because they could just put two characters over the same spot. Another interesting use of this "insert at coordinate" feature would be that it would allow people to write the limits of an integral directly in front of the integral, and over one another as superscript and subscript. I don't know if any other word processor can do these things, so much less of a request for this coordinate placed writing, but I really want to emphasize how useful and standard being able to write letters with overscores or combinations of letters, as seen in that link with method number 2. Thanks for the consideration.

I suppose an equation editor would make most of this unimportant regardless, eh?

[admin]

There is a way to have overscore in Atlantis. But it is quite tricky. The attached document demonstrates it.

First, the paragraph should use the “Exactly NNN” line spacing in the “Format | Paragraph…” dialog. “NNN” is a line spacing in points. It should be a slightly greater number than the current font size (for example, if the font size is 11 pt, the line spacing should be “Exactly 12pt” or “Exactly 13pt”.

Second, a character that you want to overscore, should be formatted with the “Compressed NNN pt” character spacing in the “Format | Font…” dialog. “NNN” should be normally lower than the character’s font size.

Third, this character should be followed by the underscore character (_) formatted with the “Upper location NNN pt” in the “Format | Font…” dialog. “NNN” should be the same as the current font size.

After you overscore one character, creating more overscored characters is much simpler. You only need to select the pair “<a character>+<the underscore character>”, copy the selection to the clipboard, then paste to the desired location in your document, select and overtype the first pasted character. But I admit that all this is not convenient enough. Regrettably there is no other (simpler) way to have overscore. We could not introduce overscore as a font formatting attribute in Atlantis because other major word processors would not support it.

Sorry, you cannot include pictures in the AutoCorrect “Replace With” pairs.

Atlantis does not allow to export/import the AutoCorrect “Replace With” pairs. But you can export/import the entire set of the Atlantis settings (including the AutoCorrect “Replace With” pairs) through the “Tools | Options… > Save to File…/Load From File…” buttons.

[keyosuke]

You mentioned a way to make overscore characters, and this helps a lot, but what would help more would be if I could include those overscore characters in autocomplete, as I can in Word. Is there any chance the autocomplete pairs will support adding combination characters as members of the pair, perhaps in the next major revision? Thanks and I'm glad Atlantis' developers care what people want.

[keyosuke]

One more thing I was pleased to discover was that I can use Atlantis' complex method for getting Overscored characers in MS Word's Autocorrect. Word's Autocorrect has a radio button for "Formatted Text", which is exactly what I'm asking for in Atlantis' autocorrect, so now I can make overscore characters a lot easier in Word.... but this is the opposite of what I want. I'm waiting for Atlantis to completely replace word for all of my uses. I guess I can use Atlantis' clip library and such to do the same thing for now, but I hope Atlantis can do Autocorrect with Formatted Text replacement (perhaps as an option like in word) in the next version.

Reference: http://www.worldstart.com/tips/tips.php/810

Thanks for all the help and the prompt responses to any interest or questions.

[admin]

Formatted items can be inserted through the Clip Library of Atlantis. You could add the overscored character to the Clip Library (actually a group of three characters should be added: a character that needs to be overscored, the underscore character, and the space character). For example, you could add the overscored “x” letter as the “xov.rtf” clip to the Clip Library. Whenever you need to insert this overscored “x” letter to your document, you could simply type “*xov”, and Atlantis would display the list of clips whose filenames begin with “xov”.

Attached a sample clip file. You could place it to any subfolder of the “C:\Program Files\Atlantis\Clip Library\” folder, or directly to the root of this folder. Typing “*xov” in your Atlantis would allow to insert the overscored “x”. This clip can be easily adjusted to insert other overscored letters.

Note that the target paragraph still requires the "Exactly NNN" line spacing.

[keyosuke]

Thanks. That helps the situation a lot.