That American flag

Have a problem? A question? This is the place for answers from other Express users.
Scotjohn
Posts: 10
Joined: 2005-01-26 08:59:28
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland

That American flag

Post by Scotjohn »

I don't wish to offend our US friends, but very often in NWExpress, especially when I am spell-checking, the Union Flag in the bottom right hand corner unexpectedly changes to the Stars and Stripes. I change it back, but it only lasts a moment, I go to preferences and change to British English, I go to System Preferences and change it there, Up pops Old Glory again. Nothing I've tried so far works. I remember reading something about this some time ago, I'd love to find an answer.

Completelyh sideways from this, as a Scot I am not all that keen on the Union flag anyway. Does anybody know of a Scots dictionary, where we could have the Saltire at the bottom of the page?
"Even a lie is a psychic fact." Carl Jung (1875 -1961)
HeatherKay
Posts: 78
Joined: 2004-04-13 04:44:40
Location: Chatham, UK
Contact:

Post by HeatherKay »

Hi!

I usually find this happens when I'm opening files from a third party who seems completely oblivious to the language in which he's typing. I also find the Australian flag appearing, generally on odd words here and there.

My solution is to select all the text and remind NWE that I am in fact working in English, using a British dictionary. Once that's been done, it seems happy to accept it. Until the next file appears from that third party.
Tom Gorham
Posts: 5
Joined: 2004-09-21 00:07:50
Location: Scotland

Post by Tom Gorham »

That's funny, I was thinking exactly the same thing last night - the US flag seems to override the UK one too often. It is slightly irritating when it marks up US spelling, but the fact that I've lived with it without comment for a couple of months means I can cope...


Tom
(Also from Scotland, too)
gemboy27
Posts: 355
Joined: 2003-09-30 21:33:58

revolutionary flag

Post by gemboy27 »

hnmmmm

I thought that was NOT the American flag, the American flag has 50 stars, well 51 if you add Iraq
I have never let my schooling interfere with my education/Mark Twain (1835-1910)
charles
Posts: 481
Joined: 2002-11-26 11:40:35
Location: San Diego, CA
Contact:

Post by charles »

Hi:

If the US flag ever shows at the bottom, that means that your file, for some reason has a US language applied to some of the text. This happens especially if you receive files from other users because Word does not make it particularly easy to switch to any language other than US English so people write with that setting and just turn off spelling.

We get the flag images from the icon used for the standard keyboard assigned to each language by OS X. Sometime in the future, though, we will probably change it to something that does not stand out so much against the rest of the UI.

-Charles
Charles Jolley
Nisus Software, Inc.
blurble
Posts: 11
Joined: 2004-10-13 01:09:27

Post by blurble »

I have had the US flag appear after pasting in plain text that I copied from TextEdit. The new text has somehow got a US attribute. Sometimes it is difficult to get rid of. Highlighting the problem text and selecting the correct language from the 'flag' menu often doesn't seem to have any effect.
My language is set to English (New Zealand) and British English spelling. I don't like having the US or UK flags, but at least the spelling is correct when the Union jack is displayed :)

I have also had the US flag problem appear in random places inside a document I am writing. It seems to appear when I reload a file I was editing earlier.
HeatherKay
Posts: 78
Joined: 2004-04-13 04:44:40
Location: Chatham, UK
Contact:

Post by HeatherKay »

blurble wrote:My language is set to English (New Zealand) and British English spelling. I don't like having the US or UK flags, but at least the spelling is correct when the Union jack is displayed :)
Okay, I'm a fully paid-up member of the pedantry society, but the Union Jack is only so called when it's attached to a Royal Navy vessel of somesort. Otherwise, the standard flagpole-in-your-garden variety is called the Union Flag.

I'll get back in my box now. :wink:
blurble
Posts: 11
Joined: 2004-10-13 01:09:27

Post by blurble »

Oh, I didn't know that. I've only ever heard it called the Union Jack out here in the colonies. :)
Last edited by blurble on 2005-02-02 11:16:42, edited 1 time in total.
Scotjohn
Posts: 10
Joined: 2005-01-26 08:59:28
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland

Post by Scotjohn »

I carefully referred to the flag of the UK as the Union Flag, being another pedant with relations in the Royal Navy
"Even a lie is a psychic fact." Carl Jung (1875 -1961)
Anne Cuneo
Posts: 164
Joined: 2004-09-23 02:15:46
Location: Switzerland
Contact:

American or Union Flags

Post by Anne Cuneo »

I don't find Charles' explanation convincing, because you know what? I write in French all the time, or let's say 80% of the time, weeks go by without me writing anything in English with NWE. And this flags have a way of going from the French to the English-speaking ones (usually US). So I don't think it's the English formatted text, since I have NO such text. It's something else, I don't know what. A new suggestion? :roll:
Anne
charles
Posts: 481
Joined: 2002-11-26 11:40:35
Location: San Diego, CA
Contact:

Post by charles »

Anne and Blurble:

I just want to make sure we are talking about the same thing here. You probably see at last two flags on your screen, one is the menu bar and the other one is at the bottom right of your document window in NWE.

Which flag changes on you? The one in the menu bar or the one in the document window? With this information we can further identify your issue and hopefully solve it!

-Charles

PS, FYI here is some information on the differences between the two flags:

The flag in the menu bar is your KEYBOARD. This does not define your language but rather how the keys on your keyboard are mapped to characters. (For example, the six letters on the keyboard will be mapped to QWERTY on a US keyboard and AZERTY on a French keyboard.) This flag is largely controlled by OS X.

The flag menu at the bottom of your document window in NWE represents your writing LANGUAGE. (It is also listed in the pop-up menu in your Language palette.) This determines things like which dictionaries are used to spell check your text, what defines a "word" when you double click, smart quotes, etc. You can also assign a KEYBOARD to a LANGUAGE, but as you can see languages do a lot more than just change your keyboard. This flag is controlled by Nisus.

As I said earlier, because having these two flags has caused confusion for some people, we are going to change our language icon to something other than a flag so it is a little easier to understand.

-Charles
Charles Jolley
Nisus Software, Inc.
Scotjohn
Posts: 10
Joined: 2005-01-26 08:59:28
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland

Post by Scotjohn »

I'm talking about the flag at the bottom of the document screen, along with all the other little icons there
"Even a lie is a psychic fact." Carl Jung (1875 -1961)
blurble
Posts: 11
Joined: 2004-10-13 01:09:27

Post by blurble »

I also am talking about the flag at the bottom of the NWE window.
Anne Cuneo
Posts: 164
Joined: 2004-09-23 02:15:46
Location: Switzerland
Contact:

Post by Anne Cuneo »

I am talking of the Nisus flag as well, i.e.the one at the bottom of the Nisus window, of course!
Anne
Metalsmith
Posts: 7
Joined: 2002-08-30 10:59:22
Location: Not Quite Downtown Nevada

Flags

Post by Metalsmith »

charles wrote:Hi:

---snip---
We get the flag images from the icon used for the standard keyboard assigned to each language by OS X. Sometime in the future, though, we will probably change it to something that does not stand out so much against the rest of the UI.

-Charles
URG! Please Don't! I write in multiple languages and rely on the flags to figure out where I'm at (and what I'm supposed to be doing).

;-)
Post Reply