Re: Fixed Width Spaces (was: Printing and Displaying DependentVowels)

[Peter Kirk]

On 31/03/2004 12:27, fantasai wrote:

Peter Kirk wrote:

Louis<THREE-PER-EM SPACE>XVI may have lost his head, but we don't 
want his number also to fall off on to the next line, or even to 
become too far separated from his name. We need to know what kind of 
space to use to resist the guillotine!


NBSP

You should not rely on fixed-width spaces to approximate regular spaces.
A simple switch from Arial Narrow to Verdana will demonstrate why: the
widths of normal spaces and non-breaking spaces are related to the width
of the fonts' glyphs, whereas the width of a fixed-width space is related
to the /height/ of the glyphs.
But, as Ken has just clarified, with NBSP Louis' neck may be stretched 
rather uncomfortably, if not cut completely. Here is what I don't want 
to see (fixed width font required):

Louis   XVI   was
guillotined    in
1793.
Here is what I do want:

Louis XVI     was
guillotined    in
1793.
These columns are unrealistically narrow to make the point clear, 
although such narrow columns are sometimes found in newspapers.

--
Peter Kirk
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (personal)
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (work)
http://www.qaya.org/