baseline menu options

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phillman5
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Joined: 2004-12-11 18:28:50
Location: Albuquerque

baseline menu options

Post by phillman5 »

Under the menu format/baseline are two options no super/sub and remove super/sub attribute

What is the difference?
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martin
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Re: baseline menu options

Post by martin »

The difference between the two commands is subtle, and depending on your usage may not matter very much. Honestly if you find that one or the other gets the job done for you, I wouldn't worry too much about understanding the inner workings. However, I'll do my best to explain what these commands do and why they seem so similar.

The succinct answer is that one command removes any super/sub attributes, while the other command enforces a "no super/sub" attribute. To clarify the difference we need to talk about styles, and how they interact with manually applied attributes. Manually applied attributes are just formatting applied by you the user, when you select some text and format it using various commands, eg: via the menu Format > Font Face > Bold.

Let's consider a footnote reference in your document's body, which might automatically have the "Note Reference" character style applied. Let's say that character style enforces the superscript attribute (ie: the footnote number is superscripted automatically by virtue of the applied style). Now, let's go back to the two menu commands in question and see how they differ. If you select the footnote number in your document and select each menu command, what happens?

1. No Super/Sub: this menu command would override the character style's superscript, applying manual formatting with a "no superscript" attribute. In other words, you'd negate the superscript effect of the character style and the footnote number would no longer appear superscripted.

Code: Select all

Before: (Note Reference character style) => footnote number appears superscripted
After: (Note Reference character style) + (no superscript) => footnote number does not appear superscripted
2. Remove Super/Sub Attribute: this menu command would remove any manually applied super/sub formatting. If you had a freshly inserted footnote, with only the Note Reference character style applied, this command would do nothing because there are no manually applied attributes. However, if you had a footnote and earlier used the "No Super/Sub" command, then this command would strip the "no superscript" attribute, allowing just the character style to shine through again.

Code: Select all

Before: (Note Reference character style) + (no superscript) => footnote number does not appear superscripted
After: (Note Reference character style) => footnote number appears superscripted
I know that's a little confusing, but I hope this helps clarify the purpose of the menu commands. If you want to know more, you might read our FAQ on how styles and formatting interact in Nisus Writer. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Aside from just super/sub, you'll find similar menu commands for other attributes. Those commands let the user easily remove manually applied formatting, allowing styles to control the formatting of your text.
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