Thanks for your support Duke, It's good to get some positive feedback mixed in with the constructive criticism.
I will take it all on board, as you recommend. Simon On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 12:02 AM, Duke Normandin <[email protected]> wrote: > On Wed, 11 May 2011, Simon Bull wrote: > > > Thanks for your comments Michel. > > > > In reply to the points you raise: > > > > > > Regarding complexity: > > It is not clear to me whether folks are objecting to _parsing_ complexity > or > > *reading/writing* complexity. Subjectively I don't think the example is > > difficult to read; it couldn't be much simpler. So I will assume that > > people are concerned about parsing complexity. On this I cannot comment > > except to say that I believe reading/writing considerations should drive > the > > specification which should drive the implementation. Implementation > > considerations should not drive the formulation of the specification > except > > where some absolute technical limitation dictates otherwise. > > > > > > Regarding spacing: > > Firstly may I say that I do believe good spacing is good practice for > > tables. > > >From my original post... > > >It is the _visual alignment_ of terms into rows and columns that enables > a > > reader to recognise a table. > > >Without any recognisable alignment, a reader sees a jumbled "cloud" of > > terms > > "good" doesn't have to mean "perfect", however. > > > > Secondly, as an author I take pride in producing beautiful documents. If > a > > document looks a mess then the author looks careless, lazy and less > > credible. Additionally, from JG's introduction at Daring Fireball: > > >The overriding design goal for Markdown’s formatting syntax is to make > it > > as readable as possible. > > >The idea is that a Markdown-formatted document should be publishable > as-is, > > as plain text, > > > > A markdown document should be *publishable* _as-is_. Wobbly mis-aligned > > tables do not make publishable documents in any profession as far as I > know. > > > > > > Regarding ease of editing : > > The difficult with inserting text into a column is a general problem with > > text editing tools and table formats in general. It is not a specific > > problem with the proposed table syntax. Moreover, various text editors > do > > support a "block" or "column" select feature which enables the author to > > select, copy, cut and paste columns (or blocks) of text. This editor > > feature facilitates exactly the kind of operation you mentioned. > > > > That aside, the proposed table syntax supports a more trivial (lazy) > method > > of inserting text into the middle of a column in a few seconds, like > this: > > > > Before: > > > > People Homeland Tongue > > ==================================== > > Elves Rivendell, Quenya, > > Mirkwood, Sindarin, > > Lorien Nandorin > > > > Dwarves Erebor Khuzdul > > > > Hobbits The Shire, Westron > > Breeland > > > > > > After: > > > > People Homeland Tongue > > ==================================== > > Elves Rivendell, Quenya, > > Telerin, <--- inserted text > > Mirkwood, Sindarin, > > Lorien Nandorin > > > > Dwarves Erebor Khuzdul > > > > Hobbits The Shire, Westron > > Breeland > > > > > > > > Regarding cell alignment : > > In my original post I wrote this > > > The author has already provided the desired text alignment in the > original > > > > >(mono spaced) markdown text. > > > > > >It is therefore plausible for a parser to derive cell alignment by > > comparing > > > the amount of leading and trailing white space in each table cell of > each > > row > > > and each column. > > > > I am the first to concede that this would require near-perfect spacing in > > the document, and would be very hard to implement. It is therefore > unlikely > > that anyone would bother to implement it. > > > > However, there's no reason not to include MMD-style cell alignment > > meta-characters in the specification as a more practical short-cut if > that > > is what people want. > > > > > > Thanks again for your comments Michel -- I hope I was able to communicate > my > > answers effectively and politely. > > > I want to go on record as a strong supporter of your efforts. Your > willingness to consult your peers with this brain-storming effort does > you credit! However, IMHO, at the end of the day, you must follow your > intuition and good sense after taking all informed and uninformed > opinions into consideration. I like your proposal! It will be > interesting to use your proposal in due course. > > -- > Duke Normandin > Turner Valley, Alberta, Canada > _______________________________________________ > Markdown-Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/markdown-discuss > >
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