Pages: Is a half-space possible?

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Level 1

10 points

Pages: Is a half-space possible?

I'm preparing a double text in French and English and wish to keep the French punctuation in French style. In French, it's customary to put a space between quotation marks and the words between them. Full stops and commas come straight after the words, as In English, but a space precedes a colon or semi-colon. A half space would look nicer than a whole space, especially on a justified page. It would also be very useful in English "when you need a 'quote within a quote'" where both finish together. This forum font actually does leave a tiny gap in the straight quotation marks it offers but the ones I favour don't. So is a single half space possible to achieve? If not, would the designers of Pages consider making one possible in the future?

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.14

Posted on Apr 8, 2019 1:27 PM

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Answer 1

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,040 points

Apr 8, 2019 1:52 PM in response to Max Roberts

To ask apple to implement a French typographical option, go to

http://www.apple.com/feedback

Have you checked whether more pro apps like Word for Mac can do this? I have read it may work if you set the proofing tool to French/France.

Otherwise you can try to input the right kind of spaces directly, using Character Viewer (Edit > Emoji & Symbols). The unicode characters available are mentioned at

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitespace_character#Unicode

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Answer 2

Max Roberts Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 9, 2019 3:26 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

I looked at the Wikipedia link, and, so far as I can make it out, not being au fait with the technicalities, the unicodes I would want to consider are U+2000 - U+2009, designed for punctuation but none of these appear in my Character Viewer. Is there any way I could download them to add to my Character Viewer? If so, how would I go about it?

I can't afford to purchase Word for Mac and I like using Pages. I will certainly use the link to Apple to ask them to make a half space and option. I hadn't heard about LibreOffice. That may well be a useful avenue to explore.

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Answer 3

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,040 points

Apr 9, 2019 12:38 PM in response to Max Roberts

Max Roberts wrote:

Unicode was not an option listed there.

That would be very strange. You should be able to find Unicode (and various other items) when you expand the larger category called "Code Tables".

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Answer 4

Max Roberts Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 9, 2019 7:48 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

What I meant by "appear" was that if I entered a search for "half space", it thought I wanted an h. Having discovered from your Wiki link and entered in the search field the unicode symbol U+2000, it thought I wanted a capital U. When I entered the number from your chart, beginning with 0, it thought I wanted zero. I tried to take a screen shot of my list compared to yours but don't know how to upload it. The main difference is that the category Unicode does not appear on it so I can only bring up characters, not spaces.

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Answer 5

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,040 points

Apr 9, 2019 8:20 AM in response to Max Roberts

Max Roberts wrote:

The main difference is that the category Unicode does not appear on it so I can only bring up characters, not spaces.

To add Unicode (and various other categories), click on the gear wheel at the top left and select Customize.

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Answer 6

Max Roberts Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 9, 2019 12:15 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Thank you. I tried that but Unicode was not an option listed there. There was Punctuation All which I tried but of several hopeful looking blanks, only one gave me a so-called Mathematical space which was no different to the one I get using the space bar. Is there a way I could download the Unicode option and add it to my Character Viewer? Thanks for being so patient!

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Answer 7

Max Roberts Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 9, 2019 1:13 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Eureka! I had clicked on that option but thought nothing was happening - I needed to scroll down. After using your chart above, I have now discovered three options: Punctuation Space (which doesn't look different from usual in the font I tried) Thin Space: this is definitely a smaller one which should suit my purposes perfectly and Hair Space (which is so tiny that it's well nigh imperceptible). So thank you, Tom Gewecke. You've answered my question and yes, a half space is possible but it's called a Thin Space.

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