Smart Punctation

[BetterRed]

Is it possible to type 'smart punctuation' directly?

How do I type a 'non breaking space' - I got lost in related discussion in the development thread, what about a 'non breaking hyphen'.

BR

[eschwartz]

At some point, Kovid will add in a special character map, like the one Sigil has.

Meanwhile, we must it the hard way. In case you don't know, or for the sake of anyone else who wanders by and wants to know this:

Copy it from somewhere you have it already, use the system character map, use the compose key, or Windows alt codes or linux unicode codes.

[BetterRed]

@eschwartz thanks - I have an ahk script I can adapt, that'll do me until something better comes along

BR

[eschwartz]

Or this:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

If you want to search for any unicode character, simply copy paste it from the text into the find field. At some point I will add a character entry tool like sigil has, however, most operating systems already have tools to enter special characters, you should be able to use those. Also note, that you can enter named entities like normal in the editor. They will be replaced with unicode characters automatically when saving the book.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Or this:

It was about then my eyes glazed over in the Dev thread - I associate the term Named Entity with data analysis/mining and Natural Language Processing - didn't know it also had a meaning in HTMLand.

I hope there'll be the agility to assign a keyboard shortcut to a "Named Entity". From time to time I edit some scripts, they're full of quoted dialogue, ellipsis', em dashes etc. I hate typing three dots, two hyphens etc - feels liking I'm writing in morse

I also prefer two spaces between sentences - that necessitates having a space followed by non-breaking-space.

BR

[eschwartz]

You could use “ and ” (for left+right curly quotes) – —   et cetera. Which require more typing than using ... and -- but at least don't feel like morse, eh?

All of which are named entities and thus will appear in Kovid's character map.

Keyboard shortcuts I think will require you to use the compose key.

Alt/unicode codes would be more work than just using named entities.

[GrannyGrump]

@BetterRed: I use AHK scripts to type curly quotes, emdash, nbsp , and a few other frequent "unicode" punctuation bits. I have most of them mapped to a singe FN key, and now find myself reaching for the F1 and F2 keys when I type quote marks at work

(I also use AHK to use right-click & drag to re-size windows by clicking anywhere in the outer 10% of the window space -- the windows hot-spot on the frames is so elusive sometimes. And double-right-click to paste. And lots of other goodies. AHK is sublime!)

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by GrannyGrump

AHK is sublime!)

Sure is - took me 10 minutes to get what I need, nice thing is I can add more if more is needed

Added : I've mapped them to the same keys as I use in MS Office, Open Office and Live Writer. Sometimes one size does fit all

BR