[pmwiki-users] leading spaces switch for 2.2.0 (somewhat important)

marc gmane at auxbuss.com
Mon Mar 26 00:48:06 CDT 2007


Patrick R. Michaud said...

> I'd like to avoid the need for the explanation -- especially because
> the outcome is extremely disproportionate to the cause.  Most authors'
> first encounter with the leading space rule comes from entering
> a line of text with a leading space, which then results in the page
> being rendered extremely wide (with a horizontal scrollbar).  Worse,
> it's not just the one line of text that is wide, but *all* of the lines
> (including those without spaces) appear wide.  Nothing about this
> suggests "preformatted text" is causing the problem, all that an
> author sees is that the page has suddenly become very wide, and it's
> not obvious why.  (The change to a monospace font is too subtle to
> be obvious.)

Thanks for the reasoned explanation, Patrick.

> I can even set it up so that we have a directive similar to
> (:linebreaks:)/(:nolinebreaks:), so that individual pages can
> change the default for the page (or for sections of the page).

I'm not personally interested in a directive for this. All I need is the 
ability to retain the existing leading space syntax, which is a key 
function of PmWiki. If I have to start switching it on and off, then 
it's a hindrance and barrier to use.

However, I am concerned that this is the thin end of the wedge for 
complete removal, and the comments of others has made me more than a 
little nervous about where PmWiki is heading.

> > To me, this is a solution looking for a problem. I'm completely 
> > unconvinced that the change is necessary.
> 
> Fair enough.  I've had a lot of experience with people being
> confused by the leading whitespace rule, and confusion is
> often an indication that a change is necessary.

It's also often about education. However, when folk are unwilling - or 
unable - to accept the needs of others (or facts), then they sometimes 
appeal to change, often subjectively - although, thankfully, you've 
provided a reason that seemed to elude some others.

-- 
Cheers,
Marc




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