[Solved] Special majority character displayed tiny

[Jurrie]

I wanted to use a special majority character, a special m, in Writer.
But it is displayed tiny, like a very small sub script (see attachment).

majority_symbol_in_writer.jpg (3.89 KiB) Viewed 3076 times

(The special m is an abbreviation of the Byzantine textform see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_text-type)

[acknak]

Greetings and welcome to the community forum!

Sorry, I'm not sure I understand what you're looking for here. I'll take a guess, but if this doesn't help, you may have to explain further what you're trying to do, what steps you followed, what happened and what you expected to happen.

All characters work the same: if the font size of that character is the same as the regular text, then the size you see on the screen is determined by the font designer. You can always increase the font size, but that may throw off the character alignment or spacing compared to other "plain" characters.

PS: When I insert the character in Writer text, it displays at about the same size as the regular text.

[Jurrie]

Thanks for your reply.

For you on Linux the issue does not exists, than I presume that it must be a font issue on Windows.

Because when I copy the special m character from the website to notepad and than in Writer (thus without any formatting) the special m is displayed very tiny compared with the size of the regular text.
No matter what type of font I select the size difference remains.

Maybe you or somebody else can test this issue also on Windows.

[Jurrie]

The display of the special m is even more strange when I increase the font size of both the normal m and the special m.

majority_symbol_in_writer_larger_font_size.jpg (12.65 KiB) Viewed 3077 times

[Jurrie]

It is also strange that when I copy the symbol from the website and than directly try to paste it in Writer only ? is displayed.
But when I copy the symbol first to notepad and then to Writer it is displayed in Writer (but tiny).

I also I noticed that the symbol is not displayed when I convert the document to pdf.
So even when the size matter is fixed, it will still not work for me, because I need the document also in pdf format for the purpose of publishing.

[RGB]

It is also strange that when I copy the symbol from the website and than directly try to paste it in Writer only ? is displayed.

That indicates that your system do not provide a suitable font. Better than copying from an Internet page, it's to install a Fraktur typeface (the "symbol" on your screen-shot seems to be a "Fraktur capital M"). There are several free Fraktur fonts available on Internet.

[acknak]

Copy/paste from a web page is unproductive, in my experience. Too much stuff comes out wrong in Writer and it takes a lot of time to clean up--as in this case.

If I have to copy from a web browser, I always--well, almost always--use Edit > Paste Special > As unformatted text. Then I re-format as needed in Writer.

Do you get better results with paste special/unformatted?

If not, can you tell us what web page you're copying from, so we can compare directly with your results?

[Jurrie]

I know about formatting problems when you copy text from the internet.
For that reason I copy first to notepad and than to Writer.
Which works effectually the same as paste special (I will use that from now on ).

Thus when I paste special I get the same described result a tiny m.

The website I copy from I already gave:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_text-type

I only copy the special m from this sentence:
"The Byzantine textform is often marked with the abbreviations *m* or Byz."

You already replied me when you copy the special m in Writer it is displayed normally (on Linux).

(Also I cannot copy the special m in this forum, because than a SQL error occurs.
That is what I tried to do on my very first attempt to start the topic about this issue.)

[Jurrie]

RGB: thank you for your suggestion about using the Fraktur font instead, this can be a workable solution for me.

[RoryOF]

I'm working on linux. When I Paste Special, the "m" character takes the size of the text surrounding the insertion point.

[Jurrie]

RoryOF: Thank for testing it, on Linux.

... on Linux the issue does not exists, than I presume that it must be a font issue on Windows.

Maybe ... somebody else can test this issue also on Windows.

I already expected that it is a font issue on Windows.

[Jurrie]

RoryOF or acknak: If you convert a document with the special M to pdf on Linux, is it than contained in the pdf? For me on Windows 7 this is not the case.
I not sure if this font issue is a bug of Windows (or just my installation?) or a bug of the Window version of AOO 4.0.1

I installed a Fraktur font like RGB suggested, which provided a solution for me.

[RoryOF]

Yes, it Pastes Special into the .odt at correct size and transfers properly to a PDF

I tried earlier today on a Windows system and got only an open box character. I couldn't carry on with my test as telecoms people came to mend my broadband link (a broken whatit on top of a telephone pole, they said). It looked to me as if the Windows problem was due to inadequate or non-existent fonts.

[Jurrie]

RoryOF: thanks for the information that all works fine in Linux.
If I want/need to use these kind of special character extensively, I know that I can edit the document properly in Linux.