suggestion : Highlight column (as well as line)

[rkrite]

Hi,

In 4.7.2 I can see the line I am on because of the new line hignlight. That is very cool.

I would like to suggest a column higlighter for when the edit mode is in "NonWordWrap" of course.

Either that, or a ruler on the top and bottom of the eitable area that indicates where the cursor is currently located.

I have given an example in the file here.....

http://mycoolfish.com/t/textpad_wish_thing.jpg [aprox 128k]

- Notice the new verticle yellow line that indicates where my cursor is.
- Notice the ruler at the top of the page.
- Notice the little red marker in the ruler that says where my cursor is.
- Notice the little red marker on the left line number bar that says where my cursor is.

--
Have you seen the Sound of Music? I really like the scene where the Nun says to Maria "What is it you can't face?"

[rkrite]

I have given an example in the file here.....

http://mycoolfish.com/t/textpad_wish_thing.jpg [aprox 128k]

Hi,

I would like to re-express my interest for this column highlight.

Is there anyone else who would find this handy?

I have not found this ability in any other text editer, but I would find this very useful when working with fixed-record-length data files.

Thanks

[A bit iffy]

I'd sometimes find this useful. On occasion when I do need to see how things are aligned, I use the block select mode. How about putting up a poll?

[ben_josephs]

I too would find this useful. You can approximate part of the functionality when in block select mode by highlighting at least one character and then typing Ctrl+Shift+Home (DocumentStartExtend) or Ctrl+Shift+End (DocumentEndExtend). The effect of these two commands is changed in block select mode when there is a selection.

Also useful would be vertical analogues of the commands WordLeft and WordRight and their families (as found in certain spreadsheet programs).

[SteveH]

A poll would be a good idea to get a more statistically valid view on this. I personally don't favour the idea proposed but I would love to have a proper ruler that could be used with specific document classes.

[SteveH]

Thinking more about your idea it has the advantage that it might work with both monospaced and proportional fonts. It all might get a bit ugly with variable fonts though as the highlight would span characters if the current cursor point was on a . rather than an M.

Again the ruler would only work with fixed-width fonts as would my new suggestion. I've done a crude mockup at http://www.shodgson.org.uk/links/TextPad.jpg

This is a fairly blatant 'homage' to Apple iApps such as iTunes. The blue 10-character columns are a bit too obvious for my taste and should be much more subtle in reality to avoid getting in the way.

[MudGuard]

If it comes, it should be configurable - and independently configurable from the line highlight.

[bgclarke]

This functionality "sort of" exists already.

In order to do this, you need to enable highlighting of the current line.

When editting a file, right-click and enable Block Mode select.

Drag the mouse around, and you can check your alignments that way.

It's a bit of a kludge, but it does the job.