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Nancy OShea
Community Expert
Nancy OSheaCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 17, 2017
Answered

Ctrl+U should be underscore, not Preferences panel

  • November 17, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 1401 views

In just about every Windows app I work with, Ctrl+U invokes an underscore on highlighted text.  Not so in DW.  Instead it opens the Preferences panel.  

The <u> element was deprecated in HTML 4.01.  But the W3C redefined it in HTML5 to represent text that should be stylistically different from normal text, such as misspelled words or proper nouns in Chinese.

Ctrl+B = Bold or <strong>

Ctrl+I = Italic or <em>

There is no Underscore option on the HTML Properties panel.

Logically,  Ctrl+U should be Underscore or <u>.

Nancy

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer pziecina

    Not certain if you are complaining about Dw's shortcuts, or how Dw supports html5?

    If it is about html5, Dw does not support most of what is in the html5.2 specs, (which is now a proposed recommendation) beyond what is compatible from the html4 specs, and the main semantic elements. In fact Dw even 2018 should not tell anyone that it supports html5, and certainly not to the latest specs.

    Now for the 'u' underline element -

    Even in the specs it says that its use should be avoided, as underlining conflicts with the default presentation of hyperlinks, so another way to look at the shortcut not working as expected, is that Dw is making the use of 'u' elements a deliberate coder choice, which must be inserted from code view, and I would think that the 'panel' selections you show in your image should not have the 'u' elements in order to not promote or make the use of underlining easy for those unaware of the w3c spec recommendation.

    2 replies

    B i r n o u
    B i r n o u
    Legend
    November 21, 2017

    well I am divided on whether or not to use underscores on links. if we look at the side of the big newspapers (which essentially produce text) ..; on the first pages of guards the links are not marked in the old way (color and underline are designed) ... but as soon as one verticalises on articles the underlined blue links reappear ... certainly stylish for the Washington post, or the Guardian, much more traditional on the New York Times, but The Sun, and the Carnard Enchainé stay blue and remove the underline...

    so I'm divided, and not so categorical as some

    pziecina
    pziecinaCorrect answer
    Legend
    November 17, 2017

    Not certain if you are complaining about Dw's shortcuts, or how Dw supports html5?

    If it is about html5, Dw does not support most of what is in the html5.2 specs, (which is now a proposed recommendation) beyond what is compatible from the html4 specs, and the main semantic elements. In fact Dw even 2018 should not tell anyone that it supports html5, and certainly not to the latest specs.

    Now for the 'u' underline element -

    Even in the specs it says that its use should be avoided, as underlining conflicts with the default presentation of hyperlinks, so another way to look at the shortcut not working as expected, is that Dw is making the use of 'u' elements a deliberate coder choice, which must be inserted from code view, and I would think that the 'panel' selections you show in your image should not have the 'u' elements in order to not promote or make the use of underlining easy for those unaware of the w3c spec recommendation.

    Nancy OShea
    Community Expert
    Nancy OSheaCommunity ExpertAuthor
    Community Expert
    November 17, 2017

    I very rarely use underscores which is why it took so long for me to notice the change in DW.

    How many web designers use text-underline on hyperlinks these days?   Almost none.

    I had an editorial purpose for underscoring which is why I was kind of surprised by DW's lack of support for it.   Of course I can  manually code it.   But for me it's more logical to use Ctrl+U.

    Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert
    pziecina
    pziecina
    Legend
    November 17, 2017

    Just curious as to what the requirerment was that required an underscore, and wondering if another of the html5 text elements would not be more suitable?

    https://www.w3.org/TR/2017/PR-html52-20171102/textlevel-semantics.html#textlevel-semantics

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