Suggestion Add an un-indent button to interface

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The discussion centers around the need for an un-indent button to complement the existing indent feature in the interface. Users express frustration over the lack of a straightforward way to un-indent text, especially on Mac keyboards where the backspace function is different. It is noted that while BB codes allow for indentation, there is no simple method to reverse it without manually editing the code. Participants highlight issues with cursor navigation and the complexity of managing indentation in the WYSIWYG editor. Overall, the consensus is that an un-indent button would enhance usability and improve text formatting control.
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Hey, could you guys add an un-indent to complement the indent button? If it's already there could someone give me a hint?
 
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Paul Colby said:
Hey, could you guys add an un-indent to complement the indent button? If it's already there could someone give me a hint?
Use the backspace on your keyboard :)
 
Well,
this is indent
I don't seem to have one on my mac.
How embarrassing.
 
Well, there are the BB codes. Still just based on symmetry an un-indent would be swell
 
There is a bb-code for indenting, but not indenting is just not using the bb-code. We also don't have a bb-code for non-bold text - where would be the point?
 
mfb said:
There is a bb-code for indenting, but not indenting is just not using the bb-code. We also don't have a bb-code for non-bold text - where would be the point?

Okay, the mac keyboard not having a backspace key is an actual thing. Apparently they see it as redundant where the less refined see it as one more character code to use. I can hand edit the "<squareBracket>/INDENT<squareBracket>" to un-indent after indenting but it's a quasi pain.

If one looks at the BB-code page you actually need an /INDENT to reduce the indent level of text that follows the INDENT
 
You can use the regular editor and simply delete the indentation tags.
WYSIWYG editors will always be messy and miss some features if you want full control over the text.
 
mfb said:
You can use the regular editor and simply delete the indentation tags.
Actually, this isn't correct if I'm read the BB-page correctly
 
Huh?

If you don't have indentation tags (in the regular editor, not the WYSIWYG), then the text is not indented.
 
  • #10
Indent experiment 1
foofofof
fofofofofofoo
What the. Okay, check. Feature is really broken.
 
  • #11
Does this help?

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2421159?start=0&tstart=0
Q: Where is the backspace key on my new Mac
Can someone let me know where the backspace key is on my new MacBook Pro?? And what is the strange character on some of the shortcut keys?
"Backspace" is actually "Delete" on a Mac. It is located right where you normally think of Backspace to be located. "Delete" will delete the character to the left of the cursor. If you hold the Fn key and press Delete, it will delete the character to the right of the cursor (forward delete).May 5, 2010
 
  • #12
berkeman said:
no,
It's not a problem with delete. It's a problem with where the editor cursor is placed in the edit buffer.
For example, if I now press the ident button, the current line is placed in between INDEN and /IDENT tags. Great. No amount
of slapping the keyboard will place the cursor outside these tags. Arrow keys won't. No if there had been text to the right of
the indented region I could navigate to and all is well.

Okay multiple lines don't get me out. So, I'm going to switch to the "BB-code" editor which is likely what everybody else does
because, well old guy. Okay, switching to the BB-editor an putting in a newline after the /INDENT tag ain't working either. So
the obvious thing is put in some actual text this time.​

Hey, this works. So, note to self. Must switch to BB-editor, write something outside the tags then switch back or not. Clearly "fixing" this
is only needed if it's broken. Why can't the arrow keys move the input pointer after of before tags independent of there being printable
text after or before the tag? Well, because it doesn't that's why.
 
  • #13
You can indent lines after you wrote the text, then you have lines below that already. This is the source code of your previous post, every [indent] increases indentation by 1 and every [/indent] decreases it by 1:
Paul Colby said:
[INDENT]Indent experiment 1
foofofof
[INDENT]fofofofofofoo
[/INDENT][/INDENT]
What the. Okay, check. Feature is really broken.
 
  • #14
Paul Colby said:
Indent experiment 1
foofofof
fofofofofofoo
What the. Okay, check. Feature is really broken.
Here is what you have above, with all the BBCode stuff being shown.

Indent experiment 1
foofofof
fofofofofofoo
What the. Okay, check. Feature is really broken.

You need to look at the raw text to see these tags, using the page icon at the upper far right of the menu bar. (The bar with symbols B I U etc. on the left)
 
  • #15
I agree with @Paul Colby that this can be annoying (although I personally never use indenting).

If I type some text then hit italic the text will be in italics. I now hit italic again and the text is back to roman type. Once indent is hit, there is no going back, except by directly editing the BB Code Editor.
 
  • #16
Thanks, once I understood the nature of the "bug" (more of a feature actually) my posting is now easier. The issue is with cursor navigation and non-white-space characters needing to appear after the indent. All (my) discomfort is avoided by indenting after the text of the post is inserted. And I can delete using the page icon and my single functioning delete key.
 
  • #17
Using the following sequence of lines for reference, where I used the indent button on lines 2 and 3 after typing all four:

Line 1
Line 2
Line 3​
Line 4

If I click at the beginning of line 2 and hit "delete", that line is merged with the un-indented line 1. Hitting "return" then puts line 2 on its own un-indented line.
If I click at the beginning of line 3 and hit "delete", that line is merged with the indented line 2. Hitting "return" then puts line 2 on its own indented line again.
If I click at the beginning of line 4 and hit "delete", that line is merged with the indented line 3. Hitting "return" then puts line 4 on its own line again, but now it's indented!

So, if there is an un-indented line preceding the one you want to un-indent, you can un-indent by hitting "delete" followed by "return." However, if the preceding line is also indented, or if the line you want to delete is the first line, this doesn't work, and you have to go into the BB code editor.
 

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