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> They are very surprised to learn you can type in italics directly using underscores. What does this mean? I'm not finding it on Google.
by bthallplz 5y ago
> They are very surprised to learn you can type in italics directly using underscores.
What does this mean? I'm not finding it on Google.
- bambax 5y agoType an underscore, type your word, or a sequence of words, type another underscore (no space before): the word is in italics. Works with stars/asterisks for bold. Much faster than selecting what you want to highlight, and clicking on the appropriate icon or even doing CTRL+I/B.
- pxx 5y agoHow in the world is this faster than ctrl-i? It's the same number of keystrokes and _ is further away than i. If you're annoyed about how far Ctrl is, maybe you should have the key left of 'a' bound to it. Also you don't want to be using ad-hoc styling in Word to begin with. It's definitely an anti-pattern.
- bambax 5y agoIt's faster because you don't have to stop to select the text, you just type continuously.
- pxx 5y agoctrl-i is stateful... typing ^isome text^i will get it in italics.
- bambax 5y agoYeah ok, that'd be better than selecting after the fact, but it's not "the same number of keystrokes". It breaks the flow a little, whereas using _ doesn't. But if you don't like it, don't use it.
- matt-attack 5y agoNot to belabor this point but it is indeed the same number of key strokes. CTRL i requires two keys and and underscore required two keys as well.
- bambax 5y agoAh yes, that's the reason for the argument then. On a French (AZERTY) keyboard underscore is its own key, no shift or ctrl. (There are ways to configure the keyboard to change the arrangement of keys to best suit your needs. I used to do this, but the big drawback is that if you change machines all your habits are wrong and you waste a lot of time finding the keys again.)