From owner-freebsd-chat Sun Aug 30 14:50:31 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id OAA12125 for freebsd-chat-outgoing; Sun, 30 Aug 1998 14:50:31 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from obie.softweyr.com ([204.68.178.33]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id OAA12102 for ; Sun, 30 Aug 1998 14:50:26 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from wes@softweyr.com) Received: from softweyr.com (wes@zaphod.softweyr.com [204.68.178.35]) by obie.softweyr.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id PAA18648; Sun, 30 Aug 1998 15:56:40 -0600 (MDT) (envelope-from wes@softweyr.com) Message-ID: <35E9C944.13D073C5@softweyr.com> Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1998 15:51:00 -0600 From: Wes Peters Organization: Softweyr llc X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.05 [en] (X11; I; FreeBSD 2.2.6-RELEASE i386) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Matthew Hunt CC: Anatoly Vorobey , freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: American English typography (no longer: make.conf) References: <199808290058.RAA20957@apollo.backplane.com> <19980829123759.B29560@keltia.freenix.fr> <19980829141614.09323@techunix.technion.ac.il> <35E83F10.1F1B5AF9@softweyr.com> <19980829211145.A8882@astro.psu.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Matthew Hunt wrote: > > On Sat, Aug 29, 1998 at 11:49:04AM -0600, Wes Peters wrote: > > > When using proportional fonts, the correct typography is to use an > > n-space between words and an m-space between sentences, IIRC. I > > think MS-Word does this automagically; if you type a second space > > following a period, it removes it. I hate it when my computer thinks > > it is smarter than me! > > Hm... does it know about every conveivable abbreviation? That is, > if "Dr." or "Mr." appears mid-sentence, it should an n-space following > it. Likewise for some obscure or made-up abbreviation. It seems to get it correct in the instances I've noticed. Word has one of those english parsers built in, and can probably *generally* recognize a period following an abbreviation from the end of a sentence, if the writer is writing recognizable english. I'm sure it's not perfect -- no product is. (Especially Microsoft products, which are in my opinion feature-rich but quality-poor.) > LaTeX for example handles the spaces automatically, but since its > knowledge of abbreviations is finite, there is a manual override > (backslashes, of course). Of course. Professional products will always let you fix their mistakes, one way or another. Frame, for instance, lets you control the kerning between letters as well as the spacing between words, sentences, etc. -- "Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?" Wes Peters Softweyr LLC http://www.softweyr.com/~softweyr wes@softweyr.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message