--- Forwarded Message from Derek Roff <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 13:03:45 -0700
>From: Derek Roff <[log in to unmask]>
>To: LLTI-Editor <[log in to unmask]>, David Kanig <[log in to unmask]>, Ursula Williams <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: #5825 typesetting quest: U and I with tilde! [long and tedious]
>In-Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>

>> Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 12:36:36 -0500
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> From: David Kanig <[log in to unmask]>
>> Subject: typesetting quest: U and I with tilde
>
> We are trying to typeset a document, preferably on a Mac using Word
> 98, that will include the name of the Kenyan writer Ngugi wa
> Thiong'o with (something like) a tilde above the U and I.

MS-Word used to have a very simple function called "overstrike", which gave the user a way of combining any two or more characters from the chosen font.  The characters would appear superimposed both on screen and on the printed page.  This was very handy for quickly creating special combined characters in a document, without searching 
for a new font.

In Word 97/98, the system is much more powerful, and practically unusable.   It treats the overstrike as one option within an equation 
field.  I think it might solve David?s problem, and perhaps Ursula?s as well.  This system is very user hostile and poorly documented.  In 
fact, even though I have used this trick before, and it still took me 
over an hour to dig out the details from the Word manual, Help screens, trial and error, and my almost useless memory.  (Perhaps this is why I don?t use Word anymore).  So, here is one way to print a tilde over a ?u? or an ?i? in Word 98 for the Mac.  It should be very similar for Word 97 on the PC, although the dialog boxes may look a little different.

Place your cursor where you want the u/tilde character.  From the Insert menu, choose insert>field.   This will open the ?Field? dialog box.  Click on ?Equations and Formulas? in the left ?Categories? box. Click on ?Eq? in the right ?Field Names? box.  The letters ?EQ? will appear in the typing box near the middle of this dialog box, above the word ?Description?.  Click to the right of the letters ?EQ? to get your cursor into the typing box.  Then type: \o(u,\s\up4(~))  (It 
doesn?t seem to matter whether you use upper or lower case for the formula elements.  Case does matter for the characters you are overstriking.) The whole formula should look like this:

EQ \o(u,\s\up4(~))

For a tilde over an ?i?, replace the ?u? that comes after the 
parenthesis with an ?i?:

EQ \o(i,\s\up4(~))

Click on ?OK?.  You should see the character in your document.  If you see the word "error," try again, and pay very close attention to the parentheses, slashes, etc.  I know of no way to edit or correct this kind of formula, once it is inserted in a document.  When I make 
a mistake, I just start over.

Here?s what is going on.  The EQ field tells Word that you are creating an equation.  \o is the ?overstrike switch?, which says that the two characters inside the parentheses will be combined in the same space.  "But", you say, "there are about a dozen characters inside the parentheses."  "Ah, no", says Uncle Bill,  "you are not thinking like a MicroSoft programmer.  There are only two characters within the parentheses, ?u? and ?~?.  All those other things are switches and parameters."  A basic overstrike would need only this:
EQ \o(u,~)   that is, the Equation field, the overstrike switch and the two characters in parentheses, separated by a comma.  The problem 
is, the basic formula prints the tilde right through the middle of the ?u?, rather than above it.

So, we have to introduce the superscript switch.  After the comma, we 
see ?\s?, which tells Word that we want to make a superscript or a subscript.  But which one?  The ?\up? switch says the next character in parentheses should appear up above the line (\do for down would give us a subscript).  The ?4? in ?\up4? says put the next character 4 points higher than normal.  Depending on the font, the size and the 
chosen characters, you might want to choose values more or less than 4.  Next comes the open parenthesis for the superscript switch, then our second character, then close parenthesis for the superscript switch and finally close parenthesis for the overstrike switch. Easy, huh?

I almost hate to mention this, but there may be a problem with horizontal alignment of the two characters.  After you?ve used the superscript switch to get the vertical layout that you want, you may notice that one of the characters is shifted slightly left or right in relation to the other.  But do not despair.  Uncle Bill has a solution for you:  another switch.  You can tell Word to align the right edge of the characters by using the \ar switch.  Align center with the \ac switch.  This is what you get if you don?t use any alignment switch, so you may never need it.  Align the left side of the characters with the \al switch.  The ?u and tilde? combination looks better on my screen with the ?\ar? switch.  The whole formula would be:

EQ \o\ar(u,\s\up4(~))

If you experiment with these align switches, print out the results. You will likely find that the alignment on the screen is slightly different than what you get on the printed page.


So there you have it- a complex, flexible, hard to use tool.  The good news is that after you have created the character once, you can copy, cut and paste it wherever you like.  You don?t have to retype 
the formula every time your special character appears in your document.

Derek


Derek Roff
Language Learning Center, Ortega Hall Rm 129, University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131  505/277-4804 fax 505/277-3885
Internet: [log in to unmask]