Computing desk
< March 2	<< Feb \| March \| Apr >>	March 4 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Computing Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

March 3[edit]

Small caps[edit]

How can I know if a particular font on my computer has proper small caps?--Lüboslóv Yęzýkin (talk) 15:20, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

In what environment? THIS SMALLCAPS TEMPLATE can help you test fonts used by your browser, and here [1] are instructions on how to test for viable small caps with LaTeX. SemanticMantis (talk) 16:05, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Here's [2] instructions on how to make a macro in Word to more easily small-capsify text. Maybe I'm missing the spirit of the question: do you need a way to automatically check a large number of fonts, or will you satisfied with a test to perform by hand now and then? SemanticMantis (talk) 16:13, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Well, yes, I have some dozens of OpenType fonts, and I'd like to know which of them has the true small caps feature. In theory, I could do this manually by trying out every one, but if there is a tool that can show all available OpenType feature of a font. In fact, there are two types of small caps: they are either just exact smaller copies of actual caps or they are done independently and built into the font.[3] Unfortunately, most probably CSS/HTML and MS Word do not render OpenType small caps properly.--Lüboslóv Yęzýkin (talk) 17:30, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

If you're using a Mac: TextEdit's buried typography console. (Go to the font drop-down menu, then 'Show all fonts', then click the gear icon at top left, then select 'Typography'. That will let you select small caps for any font that has one, for example. Or use Font Book. On a PC: InDesign's menu will show you if you have that. On a PC for free? I don't know, but you might be able to download an HTML test page that lets you customise the font setting to check what happens. But I can tell you not many default fonts include them since so few apps support them. (Palatino Linotype, included with Office, does, so do Calibri, Corbel, Constantia and a few others.) You might need to buy a license to a professional font like Matthew Butterick's Equity. Most of the free fonts that include small caps are amateur jobs, like Junicode, a conversion of Garamond No. 8, and EB Garamond (which has small caps but no bold weight); Fira Sans includes them and that's a professional job. Blythwood (talk) 09:17, 7 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Blythwood: Thank you for you attention. I'm on PC. I prefer free open source software. I ended up with creating a list of my fonts with a macros and manually applying :smcp=1 in LibreOffice with Typography toolbar to every line (it has been monotonous, but I'm patient). I found out the only fonts who react to :smcp=1 are Doulos SIL (a pleasant surprise), Linux Biolinum G and Linux Libertine G. Neither of the default fonts you mentioned work, but if they must work, probably the fault is on my PC (some software may be outdated or something else; though, the versions of the fonts seem to be relatively recent).

Thanks for the suggestions as well, I would try them when needed. I'm not in strong need for such fonts, I was rather curious, what I have by default. For now I can manage with the "standard" (=identical to capitals) small caps, as I strongly doubt that an average John Doe can notice any difference between these two types of small caps anyway (I myself hardly notice, to be frankly).--Lüboslóv Yęzýkin (talk) 15:43, 7 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Well, I have been playing with the CSS font-feature-settings property, the fonts you mentioned indeed have the true small caps. I do not know why :smcp=1 in LibreOffice does not affect those fonts. So I'll try to generate an HTML list of my fonts and check which has this feature.--Lüboslóv Yęzýkin (talk) 16:41, 7 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The topic is archived, but to remember what I did, and in case somebody find it, here is a summary:

1) Generate a list of the fonts with the help of a special macros like this [4] or this [5].

2) Convert the doc file into an HTML file. I used this on-line service [6].

3) Open the HTML file in any text editor and find-replace STYLE="font-variant: normal" with STYLE="font-feature-settings: 'smcp' on;".

4) Open the HTML file in any browser and check out what fonts have this feature.

5) As it can be seen, any Open Type feature can be checked this way. The details are here [7].

Also in MS Windows there is a special extension that can show all Open Type features in the font properties dialog box [8]. --Lüboslóv Yęzýkin (talk) 13:10, 9 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

MS Word 2013: displaying content from other files (fields?)... & header/footer[edit]

Word 2013:

1. How do I display content from another file in a Microsoft Word document?

I'm working with several Word documents. I'd like to insert text from one other file (let's call it the "meta-file") into some or all of these documents, so that if I want to change it later, I will only have to change it in the "meta-file", and it'll subsequently show in all of the linked documents. For example, if I'd like to change the heading or the footer, I won't have to change it for every single file, but would change it only once in that meta-file.

I imagine that using fields could be the solution, but I haven't yet found a field that works like a hyperlink... and I'm open to other approaches. Somewhere I read it might imply using Visual Basics, but I'd rather confirm that's what's required before putting in the work of learning how to use VB...

2. Is there an option to have a different header on the first page, but the same footer on all pages of the document? I know I can just have a different first page and then copy the footer from the second page onto the first one... but I'd like a more parsimonious solution...

Thanks, thanks, Thanks for answering (talk) 15:42, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

With Visual Basic for Applications you can do stuff like this. Microsoft InfoPath may also be useful. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 16:07, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Word's master document feature might do what you want?--Phil Holmes (talk) 09:15, 4 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

C# Monitor question[edit]

I know that the Monitor class in C# can be used to implement mutual exclusivity. Is it possible to somehow call code depending on whether Monitor.Enter() entered the monitor straight away or made us wait, but still keep waiting for the lock if it wasn't free? As an example of what I would want would be to be able to call logging code such to provide such output:

Entering monitor...
Resource busy, we have to wait

(after a couple of seconds or so)

Resource free, locking it and performing work...

(after a couple of minutes or so)

Done, freeing resource

or alternatively:

Entering monitor...
Resource free, locking it and performing work...

(after a couple of minutes or so)

Done, freeing resource

Is this somehow possible? JIP | Talk 19:48, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

You can call TryEnter(), then print a message and call Enter if it returned false. -- BenRG (talk) 20:30, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I already thought about that, but was wondering if it was possible to do with a single method call. JIP | Talk 20:37, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I don't see anything that could do that. Even if there is, it's equivalent to calling TryEnter and then Enter. Doing both atomically wouldn't observably change the program's behavior. -- BenRG (talk) 23:59, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Software sought[edit]

Does anybody know what software do these companies use? [9] -- Apostle (talk) 22:28, 3 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Companies (even quite small ones) use dozens, perhaps hundreds or thousands of pieces of software. Often without even knowing that they're using them. You'll have to be much more specific if you want a good answer. For example, you might ask "What CMS software do these companies use on their websites?" or "What CAD software do these companies use?"...but something this general isn't answerable, even in principle. SteveBaker (talk) 21:26, 4 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Okay. When I was watching the news, one guy had a laptop with him, it was in a coding page, apparently the guy created a software that mixes the ingredients information than gives feedbacks about how you can create certain products... Of course, you have to insert the item (ingredient) first what you wish to create (e.g., milk) from the alternative products. -- Apostle (talk) 20:33, 5 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]