Re: Multiple spaces converted into one

On Sep 2, 2006, at 5:43 PM, Robin Whittle wrote:

> Rather than collapsing multiple spaces in typed or pasted text,  
> that the second and subsequent spaces be converted to non-breaking  
> spaces.

Ah, no, it's not that simple.  In general, subsequent spaces should  
convert the _prior_ space into a non-breaking space.  If you convert  
the subsequent spaces, it's possible to have the line broken at the  
first space and then be faced with non-breakable spaces at the  
beginning of the displayed line.

And it's even more complex than that: spaces at the beginning of a  
segment should all be non-breakable (it's a way of forcing  
indentation) and spaces at the end of a segment should all be  
breakable (so that they collapse to nothing when displayed).  Getting  
all the cases right is tricky.

Search on mozilla.org for their attempt at describing the algorithm.   
It's not right (there are a wide number of corner cases that aren't  
handled correctly), but it gives a flavor of what needs to be done.

> I don't think this needs to be an option - I think this should be  
> Amaya's normal behavior.  ...

I agree that it should be the default behavior, but I'm not so sure  
it shouldn't be an option.  For whatever reason, there are some  
people who don't like it.  I've never understood that myself; having  
the em-space between sentences makes it easier to read.

Hope this helps,
-- Greg Noel, retired UNIX guru

Received on Monday, 4 September 2006 07:06:38 UTC