The Enid Blyton Society

It is possible to write 6½ins. on here, but only if you have Word installed.

You mean if you type it on word first?

I do have Word installed, but it makes no difference on this website! That's why I decided not to write 6 1/2"

Fiona1986 wrote:Why wouldn't .5 be correct with inches? That's how you write a half, whether it's in cm, or something that's not decimal like stones, pounds or ounces.

Actually in Germany we use a comma to separate from the full value, e.g. 1,5cm instead of 1.5cm.

well, we were told never to write .5 if we were talking about inches. For example, if an inch is divided into twelfths, or sixteenths, half an inch wouldn't be .5 it would technically be .6 or .8! But actually, as inches are Imperial measurements, no decimal point should be used at all.

Domino wrote:It is possible to write 6½ins. on here, but only if you have Word installed.

I use the character map to write 6½". Not sure if that's linked to Word, though.

I use Word to write 6½” and then copy & paste. Easy.

Yes, I did mean that I write it in Word first and then paste to this site. Word has a section marked Special Characters under Insert, which also includes ¼ and ¾.

Nigel is right in saying you can use the character map, but that is not that easy to find, if you've never used it before. I think, Nigel, you once said that you wrote long posts in Word first, as it is easier to spell-check and edit before pasting, which is true.

I also appreciate that not everyone has Word installed. I am also not sure if phone (and tablet?) cut-down versions of operating systems let you do it.

Dave

I used Word on my Mini Ipad 4 to type it.

In that case, I don't see why it doesn't work for Rob.

when I write half on here it comes out like this - 1/2

That would be true for all of us, Rob. You said that you had Word installed. (Word is a separate word-processing program or app, if you prefer.) If you do, you should see a row of options at the top of the screen. Choose Insert and from the drop down menu Special Character. A further screen comes up where you have the option of Symbol or Special character. Choose the latter and a screen comes up offering a range of special characters, in this case you select half. Then copy and paste it into your post.

I'm not sure whether that will help you or not, but I hope it does, Rob.

Incidentally, if you choose Symbol, you can then use that screen to bring up any font on your computer. Copying and pasting a message written in the selected font will always be transformed into the font that this site uses. However, it will enable you to use accented letters, which are not normally available.

Dave

You mean these should be at the top of the screen even when I'm NOT in word? I use word for articles and typing novels etc, so I do have word but I wasn't aware parts of it could be used on other websites etc...

Using decimals is potentially confusing in imperial - .8 of an inch is not the same as 1/8th of an inch. So I can see why it might be avoided.

Rob wrote:

You mean these should be at the top of the screen even when I'm NOT in word? I use word for articles and typing novels etc, so I do have word but I wasn't aware parts of it could be used on other websites etc...

No,no, Rob. You've got to be in Word to see its menu. But you can copy and paste what you write in Word into your post. It doesn't matter if you write the whole post out in Word first or just a single character.

Dave

Ah - I see what you're saying now. But it would be a bit of a bind to go into word just to write '1/2' lol! I have written longer posts in Word in the past, then copied them here, but tend not to do that now, as formatting doesn't usually transfer (such as bold or italics etc) from Word to these forums. Interesting that the 1/2 etc do transfer.