"Stoffel, Andrew" <andrew.stoffel at jenzabar.net> wrote:

> A fairly simple question. I hope.
>
> [1] I have two images: 3.8gamma-6550 and 3.9alpha-6550
>
> [2] I have a text file with many, many underscores in it. I load it
>     into a workspace in my 3.9 image and the underscores look like
>     'normal' underscores.
>
> [3] I load the same file into a workspace in my 3.8 image and the
>     underscores look like 'Squeak underscores' (left pointing arrows).
>
> [4] I save a project in my 3.9 image that contains that workspace.
>
> [5] I load that saved project into my 3.8 image. The underscores in that
>     workspace are still underscores. But any new workspaces (or anything
> else)
>     opened in that loaded project are 'Squeak underscores'
>
This is most certainly a font issue.
Please remember that we have two kinds of fonts:
* The StrikeFonts: These are bitmapped fonts that contain the Squeak
   Underscore (left pointing arrow) at code point 16r5F
   The StrikeFonts are bitmapped fonts, their names are
   Accuat, Accujen, Accula, Accumon, Accuny, Accusf,
   Accushi Accuve, Atlanta
* The TrueType Fonts that display the "normal" underscore.
   In newer images you find the TrueType fonts
   BitstreamVeraSansMono and BitstreamVeraSerif,
   but perhaps you have loaded others, too.
   Note that in a TrueType font an underscore is always
  an anderscore and never a Squeak arrow.

Now I think that in your 3.9 image you  have a TrueType font
selected as default text font, whereas you use a Strike font in your
 3.8 image.
When you export a project, all properties of a workspace are
exported and that is what you experienced when you loaded
an exported project into a different image.
When you open a workspace, it is initialized to use the current
setting for 'default text font'. A later change of the setting
does not affect old workspaces.

WorldMenu >appearance>system fonts...
is used to check and to change the font settings.


> And now I'm left wondering what I did in that 3.9 image to get the
> underscore
> character to look 'normal', like an actual "_" Or is this a 3.9alpha
thing?

To answer this question:
I do not think that you did something. It is more what you did not do:
Did you really check that the 3.9 image has the same appearance
settings as your 3.8 image? I think you simply assumed that the
appearance settings were left unchanged in the newer image.

(I am on a quite slow  machine and the first thing that I do when I
get a new image is to remove all appearance settings that would require
a high-performance machine.)

> No idea... but I would like to have that behavior in my 3.8 image. Is it a
> theme? A character set/font? Some changeset I don't remember?)
>
> Ideas/suggestions wanted/desired. Laughter? Not so much.
>