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Re: How to learn formatting options



Hi Mike,

I have some suggestions for you concerning tabs and indentation.

On Thu, 8 Jan 1998, mike johnson wrote:

> 2) By way of simple example, can someone tell me in glorious detail
> (meaning every mouse click and every key stroke) how to change the
> global default (in a default style sheet) of the amount of space on
> screen taken by a tab character? (Yes, I found the TabSpacings variable
> in Text Options in Formatting Options, but I cannot seem to change it.)

The option TabSpacings in Formatting Options controls the way cells
which display as Text or InputForm appear (see Cell->Display As), but
it has no effect on those cells which display as StandardForm or
TraditionalForm. If you hit the tab key in a cell which displays as
Text or InputForm, the expected action occurs, but if you hit the tab
key in a cell which displays as StandardForm, nothing happens. Since
the default for Input cells is usually StandardForm, it seems very
difficult if not impossible to structure input in the usual, readable
way. One solution is to use InputForm for input cells, although then
you are unable to use 2D typesetting. Another partial solution is to
control the amount of indentation, as suggested by your next question.

> 3) As a tougher example, can someone tell me how to control the way
> lines indent automatically when an expression wraps from the end of one
> line to the next? (There are a lot of choices here, including
> LinebreakAdjustments, LineIndent, AutoIndent, etc.)

The only way I've discovered to get these options to work the way you
might want them to is as follows. With the scope set to Notebook or
selection's style for Input cells, set AutoIndent to True, and set
LineIndent to be whatever you want. Then, for Input cells which display
as StandardForm, use \[IndentingNewLine] (alias: esc n l esc) instead
of return. This still leaves you at the mercy of what Mathematica
considers to be the indenting level, but its a step in the right
direction. I don't know what option controls the amount of indentation
when you use return instead.

Carl Woll
Dept of Physics
U of Washington




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