Ellipses preference odd behavior (2.0b)

[KB]

Hmm, no one has any feelings on this one then?

[William]

Option two sounds good to me - although someone is probably going to get confused and frustrated at some point, trying to paste an ellipsis over three dots! (Maybe a warning message as well?)

cheers
w

[KB]

So you want a warning message every time Scrivener refuses to allow the system preferences to create an ellipsis - that is, every time you type one?

[William]

Let me see, er... now that you put it that way... I think that would probably be a "no" on that one. Maybe just a warning in the manual !

w

[Script-O-Matic]

2) Block ellipses from replacing three periods altogether...

If what you mean is block ellipses in Script Mode, I would think that's the best solution. I say that based on my understanding that standard screenplay formatting does not use ellipses, and always uses three periods. I would think someone like Sean Coffee, with more industry experience than I, could confirm this solution with more confidence. Perhaps he will chime in soon?

[rvdparis]

Keith would you clarify the recommended settings for automatic em-dashes?

As I understand it, you can EITHER set the double hyphen as em-dash in System Preferences/Language and Text/Text AND/OR you can set it in Scrivener. What's the best practice?

Right now, I have System Preferences em-dash OFF and Scrivener em-dash ON.

And despite what an earlier poster has claimed, I cannot get the em-dash to appear UNLESS I TYPE A SPACE after it...and the em-dash is never surrounded by spaces in correct usage. I can go to somewhere in a text and type a double hyphen and nothing will happen until I go somewhere else and hit a space. Yet when I type a double hyphen and then a word after it, an em-dash appears after some moments.

My main concern is if I revise a text by inserting em-dashes, that they won't "take" when compiling my draft.

[KB]

You don't need to type a space - any letter will do. It works the same as in other Apple applications (it is Apple's code, in fact).

[AmberV]

It doesn't even have to be a letter. It's anything. Type two hyphens and hit return--

By the way, it's a moot point, but spaced em-dashes are used in some style systems. I grew up with no spaces, but there are plenty of people who insist otherwise.

I'd love to put a warning in the manual, but haven't read the entire thread, could someone give me a simple summary of what the issue is? Is it just waiting for the typography to adjust?

[Eddy]

I un-selected the first four Substitutions in Auto-Correction Preferences, and tested them individually. When I turn smart quotes on, I get smart quotes while typing, when turned off, no smart quotes. When I turn em-dashes on, I get an em-dash while typing, when turned off, no em-dash. However, when I turn ellipses on and off, the result is always ellipses.
...

Now let me put this another way. If I un-select the first four Substitutions in Auto-Correction Preferences, there should now be no smart quotes, em-dashes, or ellipses created. I select Script Mode. When I type double quotes there are no smart quotes created. When I type a double hyphen there is no em-dash created, but when I type triple periods, ellipses are created (after hitting the space bar, followed by a brief pause). And if I turn Script Mode off, I get the same results.

I think this is the executive summary that describes the issue with brevity

Eddy

[KB]

I think this is the executive summary that sums it up

I think rvdparis was talking about something different - about how em-dashes get created.
Best,
Keith