On Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 09:27:49PM -0500, Peter Davis wrote:
>
> I don't think there's any question in typography circles or in usability
> circles that proportional fonts are more readable than fixed width
> fonts.
On this, I agree 100%. But when did we switch from e-mail to typography?
I use TeX for almost everything that I do that I expect others to see.
I've done so since about 1986. I do not, however, use TeX as an e-mail
client (and the last time I checked, it was never meant to be one).
> Just think about typeset documents versus typewritten ones. To
Ok, so now the topic IS typesetting. Fine. Yes, typewritten documents
are a thing of the distant past. When is the last time you even SAW a
typewriter? I can't even remember how long it's been.... And while
we've switched to typesetting, never make the mistake of thinking of
your average word processor (e.g., M$ Word, etc.) as typesetting
software. It has some, but not all, of the capabilities of a real
typesetting system (TeX being one example, and IMHO, a very powerful
one).
> the extent that older hardware and software don't accomodate
> proportional fonts, yes, they are limited. You can call that "crap" or
> say it "sucks" if you prefer.
M$ Word does suck...both in terms of usability and output quality (based
on the last time I tried to use it).
> > But you still haven't answered the other part: how does the MUA or
> > terminal keep plain test that is meant by the sender to be aligned
> > as he/she typed it? That was a part of the question that needs an
> > answer, as it MUST be handled properly or it's broken. So how IS
> > that done?
> HTML provides a number of mechanisms for aligning proportional font
> text.
That's nice, but I didn't ASK about HTML ... so try re-reading the
following, with a bit of emphasis so you won't miss the point this
time around:
> > how does the MUA or terminal keep PLAIN TEXT that is meant by the
> > sender to be aligned as he/she typed it?
By PLAIN TEXT, I mean on BOTH ends, where the receiving end also uses
variable width fonts. HTML was not even part of the question. That's
why I didn't mention it.
Later,
--jim
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