Make descriptions better by using mathematical symbols…
Dec 17, 2023 18:26:14 GMT
Beryllium Guy and kasvik like this
Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 17, 2023 18:26:14 GMT
I think you can really up your description game by using proper math and typographical symbols.
Here are some examples:
Just typing:
serpentine die cut 11 1/4 x 10 3/4
With proper mathematical symbols
serpentine die cut 11¼×10¾
On the bottom one I am using proper fraction symbols and the "x" is a multiplication symbol. If you just use a lowercase x, then the x is flush with the bottom of the line. The multiplication symbol is centered: x ×.
How you get these symbols is really dependent on the operating system you're using. So I can't really give a guide.
Other things that I think make text look nicer is the use of curly quotes instead of straight quotes:
"Hello"
“Hello”
He's
He’s
And the last one is dashes.
Dashes come in multiple sizes:
Standard dash: -
En Dash: –
Em Dash: —
The en dash is a little longer than a regular dash. It's width of a lowercase N.
The em dash is longer than an en dash. It's the width of a lowercase M.
Some software can auto-insert this stuff on the fly as you type. Microsoft Word will do fraction substitution, for example. But there are also systemwide substitution systems where you a define some combination of letters to do an automatic substitution. On my Mac, I use Alfred 5, and one of the features it offers is this. So I type '\1/2' and it substitutes in ½.
Another tool that works on Mac, Windows and Linux is Espanso. It's free, but it has a bit of a learning curve. You need to edit a config file and manually put in you substitutions using his command syntax. But it should not take you long to figure it out.
Here are some examples:
Just typing:
serpentine die cut 11 1/4 x 10 3/4
With proper mathematical symbols
serpentine die cut 11¼×10¾
On the bottom one I am using proper fraction symbols and the "x" is a multiplication symbol. If you just use a lowercase x, then the x is flush with the bottom of the line. The multiplication symbol is centered: x ×.
How you get these symbols is really dependent on the operating system you're using. So I can't really give a guide.
Other things that I think make text look nicer is the use of curly quotes instead of straight quotes:
"Hello"
“Hello”
He's
He’s
And the last one is dashes.
Dashes come in multiple sizes:
Standard dash: -
En Dash: –
Em Dash: —
The en dash is a little longer than a regular dash. It's width of a lowercase N.
The em dash is longer than an en dash. It's the width of a lowercase M.
Some software can auto-insert this stuff on the fly as you type. Microsoft Word will do fraction substitution, for example. But there are also systemwide substitution systems where you a define some combination of letters to do an automatic substitution. On my Mac, I use Alfred 5, and one of the features it offers is this. So I type '\1/2' and it substitutes in ½.
Another tool that works on Mac, Windows and Linux is Espanso. It's free, but it has a bit of a learning curve. You need to edit a config file and manually put in you substitutions using his command syntax. But it should not take you long to figure it out.
