Comments on: Non-breaking space keyboard shortcut in InDesign CS http://www.betalogue.com/2004/02/25/non-breaking-space-keyboard-shortcut-in-indesign-cs/ Notes from an unfinished world… Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:29:08 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Pierre Igot http://www.betalogue.com/2004/02/25/non-breaking-space-keyboard-shortcut-in-indesign-cs/comment-page-1/#comment-789 Pierre Igot Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 /?p=927#comment-789 I don't think it's a limitation in OS X as a whole, because no other application seems to be affected by the problem (and that, of course, makes it very difficult to accept that things are now different in InDesign from all other applications, including Word, BBEdit, etc.). I don't see much difference between using shift-spacebar or one of the other shortcuts you described. Either way, it'll be different from other applications, and that's a pain. As for cmd-H, given that Apple wants to use it for the "Hide" command, I wouldn't bother. Some applications let you use it for other purposes (BBEdit, I think), but I doubt anyone at Adobe has bothered to research the issue and implement the shortcut in a way to can coexist with Mac OS X's default behavior. I don’t think it’s a limitation in OS X as a whole, because no other application seems to be affected by the problem (and that, of course, makes it very difficult to accept that things are now different in InDesign from all other applications, including Word, BBEdit, etc.). I don’t see much difference between using shift-spacebar or one of the other shortcuts you described. Either way, it’ll be different from other applications, and that’s a pain.

As for cmd-H, given that Apple wants to use it for the “Hide” command, I wouldn’t bother. Some applications let you use it for other purposes (BBEdit, I think), but I doubt anyone at Adobe has bothered to research the issue and implement the shortcut in a way to can coexist with Mac OS X’s default behavior.

]]> By: Warren Beck http://www.betalogue.com/2004/02/25/non-breaking-space-keyboard-shortcut-in-indesign-cs/comment-page-1/#comment-790 Warren Beck Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 /?p=927#comment-790 Yep. Go figure; you can't reassign the non-breaking space to option-space like you could obviously do it in Mac OS 9. I think this is either a limitation of the keyboard driver in Mac OS X or the driver on top of it that Adobe is using. There are a number of other keystrokes that are also not available for some unknown reason. I suggest using the back-quote key (`) for the non-breaking space rather than the default command-option X that is provided by default in InDesign (how did they come up with that?). My reasoning is this: if you can't have option-space, you need something easy to find and preferably not used for regular typing. Also, the tilde character (~) is used as a non-breaking space in TeX and LaTeX, and the back-quote is on the tilde key. Lastly, I really wish that Adobe had provided a way to entirely clear the keyboard mapping to commands in InDesign. There must be 689 different keyboard mappings provided by default (and a different set is provided by the PageMaker plug-in, not all of them as they were in Mac OS 9 Pagemaker, if memory serves, and it has been a while), and I just don't know how one is supposed to remember them or find an unused one for redefinition. I had to go manually through each of the assignments and clear them out so that I could use the ones I wanted for my own (evil) purposes. By the way, has anyone figured out how to redefine command-H for anything? It comes mapped to something (I can't recall) but if you try to map it to, say, superscripts, it comes unstuck and gets assigned permanently to Hide Indesign (like in most Mac OS X apps). This is probably a bug in both Mac OS X and InDesign. So, don't reassign command-H unless you want it to be mapped forcefully to Hide InDesign. Yep. Go figure; you can’t reassign the non-breaking space to option-space like you could obviously do it in Mac OS 9. I think this is either a limitation of the keyboard driver in Mac OS X or the driver on top of it that Adobe is using. There are a number of other keystrokes that are also not available for some unknown reason.

I suggest using the back-quote key (`) for the non-breaking space rather than the default command-option X that is provided by default in InDesign (how did they come up with that?). My reasoning is this: if you can’t have option-space, you need something easy to find and preferably not used for regular typing. Also, the tilde character (~) is used as a non-breaking space in TeX and LaTeX, and the back-quote is on the tilde key.

Lastly, I really wish that Adobe had provided a way to entirely clear the keyboard mapping to commands in InDesign. There must be 689 different keyboard mappings provided by default (and a different set is provided by the PageMaker plug-in, not all of them as they were in Mac OS 9 Pagemaker, if memory serves, and it has been a while), and I just don’t know how one is supposed to remember them or find an unused one for redefinition. I had to go manually through each of the assignments and clear them out so that I could use the ones I wanted for my own (evil) purposes.

By the way, has anyone figured out how to redefine command-H for anything? It comes mapped to something (I can’t recall) but if you try to map it to, say, superscripts, it comes unstuck and gets assigned permanently to Hide Indesign (like in most Mac OS X apps). This is probably a bug in both Mac OS X and InDesign. So, don’t reassign command-H unless you want it to be mapped forcefully to Hide InDesign.

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