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In response to  message <2993@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> :

>       I just discovered the following:  When using the Symbol font, if
>       you type an Option-<left quote> (i.e., the key next to the '1'
>       on the Mac Plus keyboard), you get an overbar followed by the next
>       character typed (for most of the characters).  On the screen,
>       this looks like two characters, but when printed (from either
>       MacWrite 4.6 or WriteNow 1.07), you get a bar over the character.
>       Is this a problem with the representation of the Symbol font in
>       the System file?  Can this feature of the Symbol font be extended to
>       other fonts?  (i.e., it would be nice to be able to overbar an x or a y)

I have been playing with this a little and here are my findings:

1.  This will work on a LaserWriter, but not on a AppleTalk ImageWriter II.

2.  You can overbar a character in a font other than Symbol as follows:

        * change to Symbol font
        * type Option-<left quote> followed by the character to be "overbarred"
        * change the character to be "overbarred" to the desired font

        Exercise: Overbars for vowels and letters with diacritical marks do
require a little extra effort.

3.  In WriteNow the overbar can be raised/lowered in one point increments by
using the superscript/subscript styles.

4.  The overbar may NOT be the same width as the base character in proportional
fonts.

        Problem:  How can you overbar a sequence of letters with a continuous
overbar?
Please inform me of your solutions to the problem, and other interesting
findings.

Doug Meade
dm2w+@cmu.andrew.edu