Re: [libreoffice-users] Writer auto indenting?

On Mon, 08 Sep 2014 01:52:59 +0100
Brian Barker <b.m.barker@btinternet.com> wrote:

> At 15:53 07/09/2014 -0700, Jerry Noname wrote:
> > Is there a way to get Writer to preserve the tab indenting from
> > the previous line on which I was typing?
>
> I hope not. If you indent the first line of a paragraph using a tab 
> character and you want this behaviour repeated, you would have tab 
> characters at the beginning of every line. So far so (apparently) 
> good.

What he wants is known in the Unix text editor as "auto-indent."  It
is *exceedingly* convenient.  With AI on: Once you indent:
All subsequent lines are automatically equally indented.  You "undent"
by either (repeatedly) keying the undent key or returning to command
mode (vi is a modal editor) on a fresh line.

It may sound confusing to the uninitiated, but, to somebody
experienced with the editor, it is very fast.  As with nearly
everything in vi: Ones fingers need never leave the keyboard. (Even
with GUI re-implementations of the editor.)  Some of us, and some
time-and-motion experts, think the mouse was the worst thing ever
invented ;)

> But then what happens when you edit the text and material
> flows naturally between lines? The tabs flow into positions other
> than at the beginning of the lines and you get a mess!
[snip]

The vi editor, being a text editor primarily designed for writing
code, doesn't re-flow.  (Tho it does have crude word wrap.)  But
the simple editor in my email client does.  It (usually) re-flows the
text, maintaining the indent w/in the paragraph.

TBH: LOW not being a programming editor, I don't know as auto-indent
would be all that handy, even if there was a dedicated toolbar button
or hotkey to enable/disable it, but there have been times *I* wished
it had it, and certainly the behaviour is doable.  Then again: I
"grew up" with vi, so its behaviour is second nature to me :).

Regards,
Jim
-- 
Note: My mail server employs *very* aggressive anti-spam
filtering.  If you reply to this email and your email is
rejected, please accept my apologies and let me know via my
web form at <http://jimsun.LinxNet.com/contact/scform.php>.

-- 
To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscribe@global.libreoffice.org
Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/
Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette
List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/
All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted