A picker for symbols

> I suggested this idea to the OOo developers some time ago. I believe no one
> is working on it though (Unfortunately, I cannot contribute anything in
> terms of code). So, this is my second try. Hopefully, this time I will be
> more successful.
>
> As a researcher, I often use a lot of symbols and keep accessing the Insert
>> Special Character menu. I now have a button on the toolbar which saves me
> a click but it would still take me to special character browser where I have
> to pick the character I need. Since most people have only about a dozen or
> so special characters that they frequently use, I thought the button on the
> toolbar be changed to the one similar to a color picker which gives access
> to the several colors quickly. I have a mockup here:http://flic.kr/p/8Fj1FC
>
> Vamsi.

> I suggested this idea to the OOo developers some time ago. I believe no
> one is working on it though (Unfortunately, I cannot contribute anything
> in terms of code). So, this is my second try. Hopefully, this time I
> will be more successful.
>
> As a researcher, I often use a lot of symbols and keep accessing the
> Insert > Special Character menu. I now have a button on the toolbar
> which saves me a click but it would still take me to special character
> browser where I have to pick the character I need. Since most people
> have only about a dozen or so special characters that they frequently
> use, I thought the button on the toolbar be changed to the one similar
> to a color picker which gives access to the several colors quickly. I
> have a mockup here:http://flic.kr/p/8Fj1FC
>
> Vamsi.
>

> 2011/4/21 Vamsi Kodali <[hidden email]>:
> > I suggested this idea to the OOo developers some time ago. I believe no one
> > is working on it though (Unfortunately, I cannot contribute anything in
> > terms of code). So, this is my second try. Hopefully, this time I will be
> > more successful.
> >
> > As a researcher, I often use a lot of symbols and keep accessing the Insert
> >> Special Character menu. I now have a button on the toolbar which saves me
> > a click but it would still take me to special character browser where I have
> > to pick the character I need. Since most people have only about a dozen or
> > so special characters that they frequently use, I thought the button on the
> > toolbar be changed to the one similar to a color picker which gives access
> > to the several colors quickly. I have a mockup here:http://flic.kr/p/8Fj1FC
> >
> > Vamsi.
>
> Hello!
> Even if I also use special characters a lot, I think that this request
> is best suited for an extension than for a core feature.
> I use a lot an extension called "Compose Special Characters":
> http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/project/ComposeSpecialCharacters
> this extension have many predefined characters and permits you to
> insert others through their unicode value. Also, being a KDE user I
> have the "character runner" app... but that's another history.
> But I agree that the ability (either through a new feature or through
> an extension) to choose the most used characters and insert them on an
> easy way would be really helpful.
> Maybe if we arrive to a good specification someone will bring it to life :)
> Cheers
> Ricardo
>

>
>>> Even if I also use special characters a lot, I think that this request
>>> is best suited for an extension than for a core feature.
> I am not sure if I agree with that, but I will happily settle with an extension :-)
>
>> I would like to help draft a specifications for this. I think the mock
>> up is a good visual start.
>>
>> Any thoughts? Who would we forward the specifications?
>
> That would be great! I can also 'help'. I have never drafted any specifications so I am not sure what it entails but I can follow instructions pretty well...
>
> Here is another mockup that I made. http://flic.kr/p/9AxzF9 It shows what I envision happens when someone clicks on the special character toolbar button. The table of symbols looks a little large because I basically used the current dialog box but we can decrease the size a little bit in the working version. For comparison, here's what the font color chooser looks like currently http://flic.kr/p/9AxCzu
>
>

> I'm thinking now on something more "complex", a sort of evolution from
> ComposeSpecialCharacter extension that can be called QuickSymbol:
> suppose a menu where you can select your more used symbols, put them
> on a table and assign to them an "alias", something like b for β, etc.
> Now, suppose that this QuickSymbol have a keyboard shortcut assigned,
> something like Alt+C: then, if you in the text type b and them press
> Alt+C the b is replaced by β. The main advantage from Compose... is,
> clearly, the ability to choose your own preferred symbols and to
> choose your preferred alias, so you do not need to rely on a
> predefined and not possible to edit replacement table full of symbols
> that you probably do not need.
> What do your think?

>> I'm thinking now on something more "complex", a sort of evolution from
>> ComposeSpecialCharacter extension that can be called QuickSymbol:
>> suppose a menu where you can select your more used symbols, put them
>> on a table and assign to them an "alias", something like b for β, etc.
>> Now, suppose that this QuickSymbol have a keyboard shortcut assigned,
>> something like Alt+C: then, if you in the text type b and them press
>> Alt+C the b is replaced by β. The main advantage from Compose... is,
>> clearly, the ability to choose your own preferred symbols and to
>> choose your preferred alias, so you do not need to rely on a
>> predefined and not possible to edit replacement table full of symbols
>> that you probably do not need.
>> What do your think?
>
> Your idea is definitely more quicker than going to a menu and clicking on buttons. In fact, my current workaround to insert frequently used symbols quickly into a text is by utilizing the AutoCorrect options. The ComposeSpecialCharacter and QuickSymbol approaches, although more specialized, sound similar to the AutoCorrect method.
>
> But the problem with those approaches is that the user is required to remember shortcuts and these features may be a little hard to discover. We still keep the Cut/Copy/Paste/Undo/Redo buttons in spite of their popularity, right?
>

> 2011/4/22 Vamsi Kodali <[hidden email]>:
> >> I'm thinking now on something more "complex", a sort of evolution from
> >> ComposeSpecialCharacter extension that can be called QuickSymbol:
> >> suppose a menu where you can select your more used symbols, put them
> >> on a table and assign to them an "alias", something like b for β, etc.
> >> Now, suppose that this QuickSymbol have a keyboard shortcut assigned,
> >> something like Alt+C: then, if you in the text type b and them press
> >> Alt+C the b is replaced by β. The main advantage from Compose... is,
> >> clearly, the ability to choose your own preferred symbols and to
> >> choose your preferred alias, so you do not need to rely on a
> >> predefined and not possible to edit replacement table full of symbols
> >> that you probably do not need.
> >> What do your think?
> >
> > Your idea is definitely more quicker than going to a menu and clicking on buttons. In fact, my current workaround to insert frequently used symbols quickly into a text is by utilizing the AutoCorrect options. The ComposeSpecialCharacter and QuickSymbol approaches, although more specialized, sound similar to the AutoCorrect method.
> >
> > But the problem with those approaches is that the user is required to remember shortcuts and these features may be a little hard to discover. We still keep the Cut/Copy/Paste/Undo/Redo buttons in spite of their popularity, right?
> >
>
> Right ;) But that does not means we do not have keyboard shortcuts.
> Maybe the ideal situation would be to implement both aspect: an easy
> symbol menu and an easy "insert my preferred symbols" method.
> Cheers
> Ricardo
>

> On Fri, 2011-04-22 at 16:54 +0200, RGB ES wrote:
>
>> 2011/4/22 Vamsi Kodali <[hidden email]>:
>> >> I'm thinking now on something more "complex", a sort of evolution from
>> >> ComposeSpecialCharacter extension that can be called QuickSymbol:
>> >> suppose a menu where you can select your more used symbols, put them
>> >> on a table and assign to them an "alias", something like b for β, etc.
>> >> Now, suppose that this QuickSymbol have a keyboard shortcut assigned,
>> >> something like Alt+C: then, if you in the text type b and them press
>> >> Alt+C the b is replaced by β. The main advantage from Compose... is,
>> >> clearly, the ability to choose your own preferred symbols and to
>> >> choose your preferred alias, so you do not need to rely on a
>> >> predefined and not possible to edit replacement table full of symbols
>> >> that you probably do not need.
>> >> What do your think?
>> >
>> > Your idea is definitely more quicker than going to a menu and clicking on buttons. In fact, my current workaround to insert frequently used symbols quickly into a text is by utilizing the AutoCorrect options. The ComposeSpecialCharacter and QuickSymbol approaches, although more specialized, sound similar to the AutoCorrect method.
>> >
>> > But the problem with those approaches is that the user is required to remember shortcuts and these features may be a little hard to discover. We still keep the Cut/Copy/Paste/Undo/Redo buttons in spite of their popularity, right?
>> >
>>
>> Right ;) But that does not means we do not have keyboard shortcuts.
>> Maybe the ideal situation would be to implement both aspect: an easy
>> symbol menu and an easy "insert my preferred symbols" method.
>> Cheers
>> Ricardo
>>
>
> What if allow the user assign the shortcut, may be they have to use Alt
> instead of Ctrl? The assignment is made by what mnemonic method the user
> wants to use, if they want to use any. I tend to use a few shortcuts
> myself but others love them. This avoids have preassigned shortcuts the
> user may hate.
> --
> Jay Lozier
> [hidden email]
>