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Re: [Mathematica 6] Format->Magnification does not work on notebook

• To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
• Subject: [mg75686] Re: [mg75610] [Mathematica 6] Format->Magnification does not work on notebook
• From: John Fultz <jfultz at wolfram.com>
• Date: Tue, 8 May 2007 06:02:41 -0400 (EDT)
• Reply-to: jfultz at wolfram.com

A little peek behind the Wolfram curtain here...

I was the one that drove this change (as well as a number of the other menu
changes), so you can heap the blame on me.  But first let me explain.  If you 
look through the Format menu you'll see that nearly every item (excepting only 
the stylesheet-related items) affects the selection, not the window.  While our 
users had gotten used to it, we thought it was very confusing for new users to 
look in the Format menu and see items which affect properties of a window such 
as "Show Ruler", "Show Toolbar", and "Magnification".  Such changes are not
considered lightly, but getting the design right is also very important to us.

We left selection-level magnification in the Format menu because people may find 
it useful.  Most people have never even known it's existed because it never had 
a menu item (you could previously only do it in the option inspector). We moved 
the window-level items to the Window menu, but the Window->Magnification submenu was later removed since it duplicated the magnification menu widget in the 
notebook window (on Windows and Mac, anyway).  You may be happy to know that
your email has sparked renewed conversation, and the Window->Magnification 
submenu is now under consideration again.

Not every posting such as yours is responded to by Wolfram personnel, but you 
can rest assured that every one of them on this forum is read by high-level
people in the company.  They often spark internal discussions or debates, and 
sometimes result in real change to future versions of Mathematica and the other 
products we develop.

So, thanks to everybody here for your praise for Mathematica 6 and suggestions 
as to how we can make future versions even better.  We are listening.

Sincerely,
 
John Fultz
jfultz at wolfram.com
User Interface Group
Wolfram Research, Inc.


On Sun, 6 May 2007 01:56:29 -0400 (EDT), Nasser Abbasi wrote:
> Is this a feature of a bug?
>
> It used to be (in 5.2) when I do  Format->Magnification->150%  (say), then
> the WHOLE notebook will be magnified.
>
> Now, when I do the same NOTHING happens. The fonts remain small.
>
> One has to first go and select all the cells to be magnified, then do the
> Format->Magnification->150%, and then only those cells are magnified.
>
> I do not understand the logic of this. I guess/I hope,  that there is an
> option to turn this "feature" off so that magnification will affect the
> whole notebook as before, I'll go look to see if so.
>
> But I think the old way was better. (just like the old help was better)
>
> (To the Mathematica engineers: if it AINT broke, please do NOT fix it)
>
>
> Nasser