From: Ming Hua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > On Fri, Dec 15, 2006 at 07:28:08AM +0100, Danai SAE-HAN wrote: > > From: Ming Hua <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > > And if you are suggesting using entities like "&cjkspace;" in the SGML, > > > then I'll probably object. It's too cumbersome and counter-intuitive > > > for spaces that are so frequently used. > > > > I don't think it's too cumbersome if the entity's name is > > abbreviated. Or we could just use "~" in the SGML source and then use > > sed to change it all in "&cjkspace;" when processing it to other > > formats, and use \tilde for real tildes. > > I don't know how fast you type Chinese (I suspect not very fast), but > for me, using anything else instead of space is a huge distraction. Of > course using ~ would be much better than &cjkspace;, but that's still > quite cumbersome IMHO.
I don't think this should be a problem at all: one only uses ~ when switching from CJK<->English inside a sentence, you never use it between Chinese characters. If a CJK tilde is not used, TeX will sometimes output an ugly This is from the example file that comes with CJK: 本常問問答集~(FAQ list)~是從一些經常被問到的問題及其適當的解答中,[...] Normally "~" is a non-breakable space in TeX. When the \CJKspace option is set, CJK will change this into a breakable space. Here's an extract from the CJK documentation: | Embedding non-CJK words into CJK text | ------------------------------------- | | To enable line breaking you should separate non-CJK words and CJK characters | with horizontal space. But the ordinary space dimensions inserted by TeX | based on the current non-CJK font often looks bad because the surrounding | CJK characters are printed almost side by side (the non-stretched value of | \CJKglue is 0pt). Especially in extreme cases which happen in underfull | \hbox commands the default space distorts the CJK text too much. | | If you say \CJKtilde, the active `~' character doesn't produce an | unbreakable space; instead, the following definition is used: | | \def~{\hspace{0.25em plus 0.125em minus 0.08em}} . | | This defines a space which has a normal width of a quarter (CJK) space. See | the file japanese/shibuaki.txt for some further details. | | This defines a space which has a normal width of a quarter (CJK) space. See | the file japanese/shibuaki.txt for some further details. | | Here an example: | | ThisIsChineseText~test~ThisIsChineseText | ^^^^^^ | Simply use tilde characters instead of spaces at the border between CJK and | non-CJK characters. | | In BibTeX entries, you have to use `{~}' instead of `~'. | | The original definition of `~' is available as \nbs (non-breakable space, a | shorthand for the LaTeX command \nobreakspace). To return to the standard | `~' macro definition say \standardtilde. | | Note that the opposite is not true: To embed CJK words into non-CJK text an | ordinary space is optimal. > > Point is that a text should not only be informative, but also be > > written in a structural way. That's the power of markup languages > > such as SGML and TeX. If it wasn't, then we could just return to > > writing plain texts without much further ado. We need to help the > > computer to make the right decisions, and inserting an extra entity > > will do that. > > And I think one of the main strong point TeX and SGML have over other > formats such as MS word is that they separate the structure/content and > the layout/style. I feel that using ~ in CJK LaTeX to deal with the > spacing issue is a violation to this spirit. I can't suggest better > alternative, though. I beg to differ: that is exactly part of the structure. Just as we write \TeX\ instead of just \TeX. Just as we have to use \foreignlanguage{latin}{Insert cool Latin proverb here, like ``Nemo censetur ignorare legem''} instead of just \textit{}. > With all these said, however, it's ultimately up to the decision of the > document translation coordinators. I am not one of them, so there is no > point persuading me. If no one else, especially no translators or > coordinators, is interested in this topic, I suggest we agree to > disagree and let this thread die. Oh, I thought you, easthearo, and Haifeng Chen were among the translators? I don't think that any of the top coordinators will object to fine-tune the SGML output. Best regards Danai SAE-HAN 韓達耐 -- 題目:《襄邑道中》 作者:陳與義(1090-1138) 飛花兩岸照船紅,百里榆堤半日風。 臥看滿天云不動,不知云與我俱東。 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]