On Mon, 26 May 2003, Andre Poenitz wrote:

> Same here. The default spacing follow good type setting style. Exposing
> them to the casual user is likely to produce bad typesetting, so at least
> my interest in making that accessible is limited.

I'd say instead that the default spacing &c follows rules laid down by
certain academic journals and suchlike.  That does not necessarily equate
to "good".  Just for instance, the default "new paragraph" action is,
IIRC, to indent but not to add space.  Now if your journal wants that,
fine, but for my own use I want no indent and a blank line between
paragraphs.  Likewise I don't want a default 10 point typeface with 1.5
inch margins on each side, I want a title that's left-justified rather
than centered, and so on through many choices.

Of course there are some things that are indeed bad typesetting, I would
defy anyone to give a logical reason why any of the options I'd like to
set are bad in any objective sense, rather than just a matter of personal
preference.

What I would like is some sort of style editor that would let me easily
change such things.  If I'm e.g. writing a paper for journal X, of course
I select and use their style, but that's not what I want or need for
everyday use.

James 

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