Improving the Eqation Editor

  • Thread starter Hunky Chunky Funk Dunky
  • Start date
H

Hunky Chunky Funk Dunky

The last time I was on here about the EqEd it was a bit of a rant about
functionality that nearly worked and had got worse since W2k

Firstly an old complaint, yet again MS has ignored the Professional market
of engineers, scientists and mathematicians. There is a huge market for
powerful applications and O/Ss that don’t have all of the bells and whistles
that Windows and Office always seem to overburden themselves with.

I said in my last post that MS developers should look at MathCad’s UI, this
still stands true, but there is still room for improvement.

The MathCad UI consists of multiple toolbars with various symbols and signs
etc grouped easily. At least with this UI you can find the symbols you need
quickly. Unfortunately with Mathcad you’re flitting backward and forward
between keyboard and mouse, this is neither productive nor helpful for RSI
etc.

EqEd’s Symbols tool is even worse, you click in the bottom right hand corner
to expand the tool and then go diagonally to the top left hand corner to
change the symbol type. This is unsatisfactory.

We need to be able to undock the Symbols and the Structures tools so they
can be stacked either side of the page. We then need keyboard shortcuts, for
example Alt and left arrow for Symbols, Alt and right arrow for Structures,
Alt and down arrow to expand relevant tool, Alt and up arrow to collapse,
Page Up and Page Down to page through the sections in each tool. And then
have keyboard shortcuts for each symbol and structure sign, so ‘ro’ would be
Alt+p and uppercase ‘ro’ would be Alt+Shift+p. Equivalence would be Alt+= and
not equals would be Alt+Ctrl+=. These keyboard tooltip need to be displayed
as tooltips.

Inputting structure, such as the integral sign needs improving, for example,
if I enter “0 1 x†and then the integral sign I would get the integral, from
0 to 1, of x. If I entered the integral sign first the EqEd would highlight
the lower limit first, then the upper limit and finally the integrand. This
would save you from having to use the mouse to select the relevant area or
from using additional key strokes to position the cursor.

Now is the chance for MS to vastly improve the EqEd and make a commitment to
the professional market of science, maths and engineering.
HTH



--
Hunky Chunky Funky Dunky
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I''m
not sure about the former."
Albert Einstein

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G

Graham Mayor

I believe the equation editor (not the new Word 2007 editor) is a cut down
version of MathType http://www.dessci.com/en/products/mathtype/. If you need
the extra functionality of that application I'm afraid you will have to put
your hand in your pocket.

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
 
Y

Yves Dhondt

Have you tried the linear format as I suggested the last time?

Picking a couple of the examples you are discussing:
- adding a new equation: ALT+=
- adding rho: \rho
- adding uppercase rho: \Rho
- adding equal: =
- adding not equal: \ne
- integral of x between 0 and 1: \int _0^1 x

Yves

"Hunky Chunky Funk Dunky" <duncan HATTY easthalton DOTTY freeserve DOTTY co
DOTTY uk> wrote in message
 
H

Hunky Chunky Funk Dunky

Sorry, no.

I couldn't find my first post on this matter and assumed it had been chopped

The keyboard shorcuts you mention, is there a layout drawing etc?
 
Y

Yves Dhondt

What do you mean by 'layout drawing'?

Yves

"Hunky Chunky Funk Dunky" <duncan HATTY easthalton DOTTY freeserve DOTTY co
DOTTY uk> wrote in message
 
P

Pamelia Caswell via OfficeKB.com

What version of Office are you using? Have you seen these articles?

http://blogs.msdn.com/microsoft_office_word/archive/2007/12/21/smart-canvasses.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/microsoft_office_word/archive/2006/10/04/Equations-in-Word-2007.aspx


I am no longer in the scholarly (scientific & technical) publishing business,
but I still like to check out what's happening. From MS's descriptions and
from the reviews, it seems like the 2007 equation feature is a step in the
right direction (well, to me, anything that uses Unicode and does not use
pictures for equations is in the right direction). Have you looked into
MathML--at least to see what you like and don't like about it?

Pam
Sorry, no.

I couldn't find my first post on this matter and assumed it had been chopped

The keyboard shorcuts you mention, is there a layout drawing etc?
Have you tried the linear format as I suggested the last time?
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
 
B

Bob Mathews

Hi there Duncan,

Graham already mentioned MathType; I have more to add about MathType
WRT your post...
We need to be able to undock the Symbols and the Structures tools so
they can be stacked either side of the page. We then need keyboard
shortcuts, for example Alt and left arrow for Symbols, Alt and right
arrow for Structures, Alt and down arrow to expand relevant tool, Alt
and up arrow to collapse, Page Up and Page Down to page through the
sections in each tool. And then have keyboard shortcuts for each
symbol and structure sign, so 'ro' would be Alt+p and uppercase 'ro'
would be Alt+Shift+p. Equivalence would be Alt+= and not equals would
be Alt+Ctrl+=. These keyboard tooltip need to be displayed as
tooltips.

MathType can do all of this. The undockable toolbar won't be what
you're used to in Mathcad, but you can move it wherever you want, and
can place symbols, templates, expressions, and equations of your own
choosing onto the toolbar to use later. Further, with MathType you can
customize the keyboard shortcut commands exactly like you're
suggesting, and the shortcuts will be displayed in the MathType Status
Bar (not as a tooltip, and only if you also delete the default
shortcut).

Bob Mathews
Director of Training
Design Science, Inc.
bobm at dessci.com
http://www.dessci.com/free.asp?free=news
FREE fully-functional 30-day evaluation of MathType
MathType, MathFlow, MathPlayer, MathDaisy, Equation Editor
 

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