Mail font icon thingeys

TuckerdogAVL

TuckerdogAVL

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Does anyone have any idea as to what those icons are in under "Fonts" in the Apple mail program? Launch Mail. New. Choose Fonts. And you'll see " T underlined" explained....T cross thru, etc. Then you'll see a colored box...launches colors....Then a picture of a page. What does that do? Mean?
Following:
Another "T" this time you can change the background color of the box back and forth.
Then some sort of bars with a triangle, a box and a smaller box. Wait? Am I playing Myst?
Then, finally a wheel that you can change from degrees.

Love to know what this stuff is! Thanks.
 
That's the OS X font panel. Nothing special about Mail, as that is the system-wide font panel used by most any app that needs to use fonts. It allows you to choose the font that you use, and the size of that font. Those icons at the top of the panel allow you to select the various effects that you can apply to your fonts as you type.
You have (from the left) underline, strikethrough, text color, and document color (which applies the color to the document background. Then you have the shadow toggle, and the rest of the icons (which are mostly sliders) allow you to change the shadow effect.
Each effect has a name, which you can see if you hover over the effect icon.
See the dot under the word FONT at the top of the panel? If you drag that dot down, you will see a sample of the font that you have selected, in your selected size.
 
Interesting. Where is this information in help? Just curious. I tried "font icons," "mail fonts," "mail font icons" and nothing.

So, what does the rotator do in regards to the font? See there is something that happens with the triangle, box, etc. in regards to shadowing. Can't see what does what though...but it's kinda fun. And, got the little page one....but the T box that changes from white to blue doesn't seem to make sense. Perhaps that is to let you know you're in shadow mode?

In any event, I guess one could use it to make up a specail notice or something. But, curious. What is the rotator wheel for?
 
As I stated, the panel is called 'font panel', so you can search for that in your Mac Help.
The rotator thingy changes the angle of the shadow relative to the font character, making the lighting appear to come from a different direction. Most of the shadow affects are quite subtle.

Experiment with the different settings, and have fun...!
 
Yeah...finally figured out that the rotator had to do with the angle of the shadow. yes, it is very subtle...but I do like the ability to highlight over type in an email. Wondered how to do that. It's great. I always just changed the color of the font before; like being able to highlight like a marker now. The shadows are more pronounced on thicker fonts, naturally; and, yes, you have to play a little to see it. Thanks for your help. Hope this helps with others wondering what those are for. (And it was a little tricky figuring out clicking on the page box vs. just the type font)
 
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