Little bug in tabs definition

[eluengo]

This is a little error (not especially annoying) that comes from version 1, and continues in version 2.

When using dialog for new or edit Text Style, under Paragraph>Tab Stops new tab markers can de defined. In doing that a new line creates in tab list, and in every marker a different option of "Tab stop leader character" can be chosen. To edit this leading character a little button with an ellipsis [...] should be pressed and a small popup dialog appears with the different tab options to be defined (see image 1). There is not possible neither change the leading character nor adding a character sequence (like point-space, to put less dot density in the tab leader).

This perverse behavior doesn't happen when invoking the same (or similar) popup dialog directly in the Tab Stop definition in the Paragraph Inspector, where it's possible to type anything as tab stop leader char (see image 2).

The  straightaway solution is to not define tab stops in text style, then modify it in the inspector, and update the text style endly. So is not severe, but it would be welcome to correct it.

Emilio

[MikeTO]

Hi, this is a known bug in 2.0. You can edit via the paragraph panel but not via the text styles panel. So for now edit the paragraph attributes and then update the style.

Cheers

[eluengo]

11 minutes ago, MikeTO said:

Hi, this is a known bug in 2.0. You can edit via the paragraph panel but not via the text styles panel. So for now edit the paragraph attributes and then update the style.

Certainly, I said, is known from version 1.x.x. And I know the solution.

But years have passed and it's not bad to remember such little things!

[stokerg]

15 hours ago, eluengo said:

Certainly, I said, is known from version 1.x.x. And I know the solution.

 

I've give the report a nudge and left a link back to this thread  

[Truthseeker10]

Any chance of having this bug looked at sometime? It's been around for a long time — I think I first encountered it, and figured out the workaround of using the Paragraph panel to edit the tab leader then updating the style — since V1 days, and on earlier releases of macOS. It's annoying!

To reproduce:

1. Define a paragraph style and apply it to a paragraph.
2. Edit the style to create a tab stop.
3. Still editing the style, click the "…" button next to the tab stop and select "(.)". The text box to the right becomes active, implying the leader character(s) can be changed. But the text there (likely a full-stop initially) can't be selected or edited.

Workaround:

1. (Without editing the style) Use the Paragraph panel to edit the tab stop's leader character. This time the leader character's text field is editable. Set it to what you want.
2. Update the paragraph style from the amended paragraph (whilst hoping you didn't have any other stray local styling applied that might get picked up! 🙄).

Application and System Information

• Affinity Publisher 2.2.0 (also present in earlier versions and, I seem to remember, V1)
• The problem is reproducible — see steps above.
• It happens for a new document as well as existing ones.
• Operating system is macOS Sonoma 14.0 on a MacBook Pro.
• Hardware acceleration in Affinity Publisher is ON (Metal).
• Has not worked previously.

See also the second question/point in the "[Publisher 2.0.3] TOC Styles Problems" thread:

 

[Oufti]

1 hour ago, Truthseeker10 said:

Application and System Information

• Affinity Publisher 2.2.0 (also present in earlier versions and, I seem to remember, V1)

You remember well.
It has been related to a bug affecting also color input (why?…) : 

• AF-204

There were some other workarounds proposed:

On 7/31/2023 at 9:23 PM, Oufti said:

Workaround

Using the Paragraph panel and updating the style.

 

Freshly proposed workarounds 

— In the field "Position", arrows work (though rounding any decimal value). 

— For the fields "Decimal" and "Character" (not "Position"), the macOS Character Viewer (via the globe key 🌐 on certain keyboards or the menu bar) allows to input text in, even if the keyboard is useless.
To validate it, you will have to click in another field before leaving the dialog, since the Return key is as inefficient as any other.