Publisher: Text > Toggle Unicode equivalent on iPad?

[walt.farrell]

On the desktop, we can enter Unicode characters easily by typing U+nnnn and then using the menu action Text > Toggle Unicode which has the keyboard shortcuts Alt+U (Windows) or Ctrl+U (Mac). I was doing some experimenting on my iPad and wondered what the equivalent would be. Ctrl+U does not work for me. And I cannot find a menu equivalent, either. So I checked the Help, which says (sorry for the screenshot, but I'm on my iPad right now and I can't find a way to copy text from the Affinity Help iPad Publisher pages):

From that, it seems that one should simply be able to type U+ a hex code (or G+ a hex code for glyphs) directly into the text. That seems a bit odd, because maybe you actually want that text sequence. But I tried it, and it just gives the sequence of characters you typed.

So, is this function really missing? And if anyone from Serif reads this, how is it supposed to work? Shouldn't there be a toggle function as we have on the desktop?

(Also, if anyone from Serif reads this, what's up with the iPad pages on Affinity.help that don't allow copying text using Safari on iPad?)

[Dan C]

Hi Walt, 

Thanks for the information, I've logged this bug.

As for the copy paste issue on the help file, I agree and though not a bug I will pass it on. The web version can be used as an alternative in the meantime if details need copying.

Lee

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, LeeThorpe said:

As for the copy paste issue on the help file, I agree and though not a bug I will pass it on. The web version can be used as an alternative in the meantime if details need copying.

Thanks. But note it was the web page I was complaining about  

Sorry for not being more clear about that. 

[Dan C]

1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

Thanks. But note it was the web page I was complaining about  

Sorry for not being more clear about that. 

I see, thanks,  I've confirmed and added a report for this too.

Lee

[walt.farrell]

@LeeThorpe: I'm curious about the status of AFB-7392.

1. I haven't seen anything that says it's been fixed. However
2. I don't see that text in the iPad Publisher Help file in 2.1.

This leads me to wonder if it was "fixed" by updating the Help and removing the statements about function that doesn't work, or if there is an actual fix planned someday.

There are additional related problems. For example, the Help for the Glyph Browser says you can search for characters by using their Unicode code points, e.g., U+00b0 to find the Degree glyph. That doesn't work either. So it seems there is a more general issue with Unicode notation on the iPad.

On a more positive note, text can now be copied from the iPad Affinity Help pages. So my thanks to the team that fixed that.

But at least on Safari on the iPad, it ends up rather unreadable, for example:

image or document's color mode determines the number and type of color channels available to you. Each channel stores color information specific to it, which, when combined with other channels, brings about the full color image. For example, a red channel would store only red color information in RGB color mode.

Channel information is displayed in the Channels panel.

[Dan C]

On 5/20/2023 at 12:55 AM, walt.farrell said:

@LeeThorpe: I'm curious about the status of AFB-7392.

1. I haven't seen anything that says it's been fixed. However
2. I don't see that text in the iPad Publisher Help file in 2.1.

This leads me to wonder if it was "fixed" by updating the Help and removing the statements about function that doesn't work, or if there is an actual fix planned someday.

There are additional related problems. For example, the Help for the Glyph Browser says you can search for characters by using their Unicode code points, e.g., U+00b0 to find the Degree glyph. That doesn't work either. So it seems there is a more general issue with Unicode notation on the iPad.

On a more positive note, text can now be copied from the iPad Affinity Help pages. So my thanks to the team that fixed that.

But at least on Safari on the iPad, it ends up rather unreadable, for example:

image or document's color mode determines the number and type of color channels available to you. Each channel stores color information specific to it, which, when combined with other channels, brings about the full color image. For example, a red channel would store only red color information in RGB color mode.

Channel information is displayed in the Channels panel.

Hi Walt,

AFB-7392 is dependant on a currently unresolved issue : AFB-7076.

On Safari, the help file for iPad Photo is showing as below for me. Do you have any accessibility functions enabled? 

Lee

 

[Alfred]

On 1/29/2023 at 1:39 AM, walt.farrell said:

So I checked the Help

I can’t see anything about hex codes on the linked Help page.* It does tell you that the Glyph Browser panel allows you to “view [sic] insert glyphs, Unicode characters or Unicode characters with alternates” but that’s all. (Shouldn’t it say “Unicode character codes” rather than just “Unicode characters”?)

On 1/29/2023 at 1:39 AM, walt.farrell said:

I'm on my iPad right now and I can't find a way to copy text from the Affinity Help iPad Publisher pages

No such problem here. Copying and pasting from an Affinity Help page (viewed in Safari) works as it always has done.

On 5/20/2023 at 12:55 AM, walt.farrell said:

I don't see that text in the iPad Publisher Help file in 2.1.

* That probably explains my initial observation!

On 5/20/2023 at 12:55 AM, walt.farrell said:

But at least on Safari on the iPad, it ends up rather unreadable

For what little it’s worth, I’ve always had to use the “Paste as plain text” option.

[walt.farrell]

On 5/22/2023 at 5:25 AM, LeeThorpe said:

On Safari, the help file for iPad Photo is showing as below for me. Do you have any accessibility functions enabled? 

Yes, that's how I see it, too.

My original problem with it was that nothing could be copied. Now, text can be copied, but (on the iPad, though not on Windows) it comes out like I showed most recently, with gray text on a white background.

On 5/22/2023 at 6:54 AM, Alfred said:

For what little it’s worth, I’ve always had to use the “Paste as plain text” option.

Thanks, Alfred. I'll check that when I'm back on my iPad. There's no "paste as plain text" in Firefox on Windows.

[bediicco]

Hey, i have a question about this. I try to set all characters correctly according to the standards, for example protected spaces (U+00A0) etc. So far, I can only use them on the iPad very awkwardly via the glyph browser. Is there a faster option? Presumably I still have to see if I can set up a shortcut for the glyph browser, but maybe you can now also enter Unicode directly.

[bediicco]

It is also strenuous, as soon as text fields, such as the glyph browser or search replace are open, I no longer have access to the actual text, because it is constantly blocked

[MikeTO]

This won't help you with other special characters, but you can type a non-breaking space (U+00A0) with Option + Space.

 

[bediicco]

34 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

This won't help you with other special characters, but you can type a non-breaking space (U+00A0) with Option + Space.

 

Tested and confirmed - I wish I had known that 6 hours ago 😀