Carson - 2011-09-16

Using AllChars' Most Sneaky Character

by Carson Wade

September 2011

AllChars most subtle character is no character at all.

Using AllChars, renders a space. (In ver 4.0.321, it's listed under
Punctuation Marks, at the top.)

Is this a spacebar space?

—No, it isn't. Same-same but different.

First of all, it's very useful for naming a folder that will precede all
others. You name the file simply , and it takes its place invisibly on the top
line.

—Now you change the icon to your own custom-made icon (including the
possibility of an icon you stored as "nothing.ico" and which comprises no
graphic at all) and you have a folder that comes first and is visible only in
that the top line is mysteriously taken. In other words, all the visible
folders are listed from the 2nd line on down.

But, more than that:

AllChars' invisible space character, I said, is not exactly the same as a
spacebar space. Windows alphabetizes the keyboard spacebar space BEFORE the
AllChars space.

—Therefore, there are now several ways you can precede an alphabetized list of
folders with a folder you wish to give precedence. Maybe this folder uses your
own name, or any other name that would normally be lost in the middle of an
alphabetized list.

For example:

Worksheets

is indented one space, and therefore precedes all others.

Now let's get very, very fancy:

If you use AllChars' • , you can have folder or file names such as

Custom • AllChars

-Very cool. But you ain't seen nothin' yet.
That contains two ordinary spacebar spaces, one before the dot and one after.
Either or both of those spacebar spaces could actually be, instead, an
AllChars space, and, in that case, the folder would alphabetize accordingly.

Which means you have 4 possibilities for alphabetic sequencing, when you use
any folder or file such as

Custom • AllChars.

Get it? Windows sees what no human eye sees. You could have such a list as:

Dogs • World

Dogs • My Dog

Dogs • Alaskan Malemute

Dogs • Bearded Collie

Dogs • Coon Hound

Think about it. Have fun, attempt to preserve your sanity, and—oh—add a
textfile to your modified lists, so you won't be forever-after perplexed how
you did it.

—Carson Wade