Re: [libreoffice-users] Input required -- font selection in the Math component

Hi Regina

On 08/05/17 22:25, Regina Henschel wrote:
> >  * There is currently no way to change the font used for Greek letters
> >    in LibreOffice. Has this bothered you at all?
>
> No. But if you like a different one, create an own symbol set. The 
> advantage of OpenSymbol is, that all users of LibreOffice have got it. 
> If you use a different font, the formula might look different on other 
> PCs.

This is very slow and tedious. It would be really great if the default 
font could be changed for all symbols. Of course, the intention is for 
the formula to look different :-)

> >  * Did you notice that the default OpenSymbol font does quite a bad job
> >    with some expressions, such as {{1 over %alpha} + {1 over {%alpha +
> >    1}}} ?
>
> Do you have got the newest version? It should be 102.10.

Interesting. I have version 102.7, which is what I get from the Ubuntu 
16.04 LibreOffice 5.2 PPA, deb-src 
http://ppa.launchpad.net/libreoffice/libreoffice-5-2/ubuntu xenial main

dpkg -l "*opensymbol*"

ii  fonts-opensymbol 2:102.7+LibO5.2.5~rc1-0ubun

> In general the problem is the rendering engine, which is not able to 
> use special features. In case of 1 over %alpha it is a bug, 
> [https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=48965] (and 
> duplicates). Workaround 1 over {%alpha`} or 1 over {{}%alpha}

I disagree. The problem is with the font. I have added another image to 
that bug report to clarify.

> >  * Did you notice that the default for LibreOffice is now to have
> >    lower-case Greek letters in non-italics, even though basically every
> >    academic publication you'll ever see has lower-case greek letters in
> >    italics, and this can only be changed to 'normal' behaviour using a
> >    hidden 'advanced' setting?
>
> Now there are two sets, one upright and one italic, so that you can 
> write %beta and %ibeta and %BETA and %iBETA.
>
> There exists an advanced setting GreekCharStyle with values 0,1 or 2.
> Value 0 means: Write Greek symbols literal, those from set "Greek" 
> upright, those from set "iGreek" in italic.
> Value 1 means: Write all Greek symbols in italic
> Value 2 means: Write large characters of set "Greek" upright and all 
> others italic.
> You need to restart LibreOffice after changing the value.
>
> You can of cause force upright always with command nitalic, and force 
> italic with command italic.

The default should be setting 2, consistent with normal publishing 
practice. But on new installs, last time I checked, the default was 
still 0 with is a poor choice for the default.

> >  * Did you notice that if you set the default Math font size in Writer,
> >    it also changes in Impress? One size fits all!
>
> Math is a separate module. It is always inserted as OLE.
>
>  It would be great if
> >    the size setting were specific to the context in which the Math is
> >    being inserted.
>
> That is not possible, because the default configuration does not know, 
> in which context it will be used. There exists only one default 
> configuration. I use macros to adapt the formula in Writer or 
> Draw/Impress, or I change the size in the first formula I write and 
> make that the new default.
>
> It might be possible, that in case, the formula editor is called 
> in-place in Writer or Draw/Impress, that the context information can 
> be used instead of the default.

This is a definite design problem. The 'default' size should not have to 
be changed every time one switches between Writer and Draw/Impress. This 
problem has been addressed quite nicely in Another Office Package.

> >  * Did you notice that sometimes you can over-type text on top of a
> >    Formula by typing F2 when a Formula is selected in Impress?
>
> That is the text-box, which belongs to every OLE-object and every 
> other object in Draw/Impress. You can use it to write a caption to the 
> formula, which moves together with the formula. It does not belong to 
> the formula itself but to the OLE representation of the formula. The 
> position of this text is set in Format > Object and Shape > Text.

This is a bad feature for something like a Math object, which inherently 
also contains text, in my view. I think this feature of being able to 
overlay text should be suppressed for most embdedded objects, and it 
will cause confusion to the majority of users.

Cheers
JP

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