Hyphenating in the topic name panels

Previous: Blue expanded topic name panels (in the Map or 'Scape)

(Go to:Topicscape Pro User Guide - contents list)

The maximum size of the name panels on topics has been carefully chosen to balance clear identification of topics and visibility of all items in the Map or 'Scape. Up to three lines of text are allowed, and the width has a maximum that varies according to where the topic appears.

It is a good idea to use short phrases to identify topics. That is not always possible, and you can have a long name if you wish, but the phrase will be truncated (shown by ellipsis "…") in the name panel. The name appears in full in the Details Panel, and blue "hover hints".

You can control hyphenation of long words in topic names on the topics as well. Simply add soft hyphens with Ctrl+- (Control+hyphen) when editing in the Details Panel. The hyphens will only be visible when Topicscape cannot fit the word on a line, or when you are editing the topic name in the Details Panel. They show up as white hyphens with a blue background like this: This is a hyphen-ated example.

Soft hyphens are only used in two circumstances:

• If the name requires more than three lines or
• If a word is so long that it cannot fit on a line by itself

What is the effect on searching of soft hyphens in topic names?

The presence of soft hyphens in words will not affect searching. So in the example given earlier, a search for 'hyphenated' would give a hit.

Accumulating help

Once inserted, the discretionary hyphen will be used with this word throughout all your Topicscapes on that computer - but only when required, of course. This avoids the need to duplicate hyphen setting. Words can have more than one soft hyphen inserted if you wish. The one to use will be chosen to make best use of the space available.