Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 12:04:30 -0500 From: Tom Rhodes <darklogik@pittgoth.com> To: Mike Meyer <mwm-dated-1017071300.b43eea@mired.org> Cc: swear@blarg.net, freebsd-doc@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: docs/36042: [PATCH] There's not a good description of shared builds in the handbook Message-ID: <3C98C11E.30902@pittgoth.com> References: <200203192120.g2JLK3o17280@freefall.freebsd.org> <mfr8mf98vb.8mf@localhost.localdomain> <15512.3992.905972.279159@guru.mired.org> <20020320000727.284a00c1.darklogik@pittgoth.com> <15512.44867.930654.886921@guru.mired.org>
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Mike Meyer wrote: > In <20020320000727.284a00c1.darklogik@pittgoth.com>, Tom Rhodes <darklogik@pittgoth.com> typed: > > > Speaking of following standards, rfc 2822 says that lines in email > messages "SHOULD" be at most 78 characters long. Yours were ~160. I > for one would appreciate that standard being followed. I'm not going to get myself into this arguement, if you want to argue using rfc standards, then please notice how the rfc's have two spaces after each sentance as observed on faq.org/rfcs ;) > > Here's the story as I recall it. I've probably got some of it wrong. > > In the beginning, all fonts had variable width characters, and > typesetters used an n-space after words, and an m-space after > sentences. When fonts with fixed-width characters were introduced - > via typewriters - *some* of the users decided that the m-space after a > sentence deserved two spaces. Others kept right on using a single > m-space after sentences, even though they were the same width as the > n-spaces after words. > > As you can see, this distinction only matters if you're setting > something in fixed width fonts, and even then there isn't universal > agreement about it. Bringhurst, in "The Elements of typographic > style", calls the double-space practice an "abomination", or words to > that effect. As far as I'm concerned, when it comes to typography, > that's the bible - which I suppose makes Bringhurst God. > > Now, if this is something we do to make life easier for programs, that > I can understand. In which case, I'd very much like to have -- be > turned into m-dashes and - into n-dashes, so we can do away with > —. I'm even willing to do the work, if someone can point out > what code is interpreting '. ' to mean something different than '. '. It is also a tad bit easier for translaters... If you really want to propose a large arguement, then just look at it like this, in the doc project we use two spaces as a set standard for the documents we produce. We have followed this for awhile now, if we let everyone submit under any standard, we would have some ugly looking documentation. > > <mike > -- > Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/ > Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information. > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message > > > Take care, -- Tom (Darklogik) Rhodes www.Pittgoth.com Gothic Liberation Front www.FreeBSD.org The Power To Serve To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
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