Microsoft KB Archive/67963

Plus Symbols in Grayed Menu Items Appear to be Arrows PSS ID Number: Q67963 Article last modified on 10-29-1991 PSS database name: W_PowerPt

2.00

WINDOWS

Summary:

In PowerPoint, as in any other Microsoft Windows version 3.00 application, if a menu item containing a plus symbol (+) is grayed, the plus sign may look like a left-pointing arrowhead. This can be seen in menu items such as the Bring To Front command under the Edit menu.

This behavior is due to the way Windows 3.00 grays text. Every other pixel is replaced with the color white to give the appearance of gray for those menu items that cannot currently be selected. Due to the design of the plus symbol in the Windows system font, the plus sign may appear as a left-pointing arrow when it is grayed.

This problem will not occur on 256-color displays. On 256-color displays, gray is a solid color; therefore, the dithering method described above is not necessary to give the appearance of the color gray.

Note: The problem will occur on 16-color VGA displays.

Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1991.