On Wed, 7 Jan 2015 13:32:27 -0800 Keith Lofstrom <[email protected]> wrote:
> This may be a religious question, but here goes. > > I tend to write my emails and other documents with a target line > length approaching but less than 68 characters - I trained in an > era of 80 column terminals, and multiple-quoted emails with ">>>>>" > in front of the lines become much harder to read when they wrap. I appreciate the narrower fill length, believe me. I too trained with 80 column terminals. (Heck, my old Tek 4051 had a 72 column screen.) As for the multiply-quoted messages mentioned above, I've been known to re-fill such messages, so the lines don't go off the (80 column) screen. > I usually read emails in 80 column windows, though sometimes I use > a full screen window 170 characters wide, even 250 characters wide > with tiny fonts when I am looking at log files. An email without > line breaks is very difficult to read 250 characters wide! These days I run Claw-Mail, though I've been considering going back to MH-E. (I have Claws set up to use Emacs as its external editor, since my fingers automatically use Emacs keystrokes.) Claws will generally do a decent job of line wrapping. Not always, but usually. > So, what do you folks find easiest to read, and what is your > tolerance range? I expect some will respond like "all lines MUST > be exactly 72 characters, use a thesaurus to find words with the > correct spacing" or "my enter key is broken so it is all one line." > Such responses will be weighted appropriately. > > Keith I have Claws' message pane set to 80 columns, and its line-wrap length (fill-column for us Emacsies) to 72. For writing email, I use Emacs, as mentioned above. I have the fill-column set to 66 columns, probably a holdover from my high school typing classes. I refuse to indulge in 2048-pixel-wide terminals. :-( Those aren't a Windows-only affectation, alas. I've gotten mail from some Linux people that has the same "structure." Just because I have a 2048 pixel width screen, doesn't mean I want my terminals that wide. Actually, I can have two 80-column terminals side-by-side on one screen. Broken Enter key? Get another keyboard. FreeGeek has them, as do other places. Heck, I bought my current keyboard, brand new, at ENU for about $15.00. Messages must be fully justified to 72 columns? *Phthththtttt!* Well, if you absolutely must, use nroff or LaTeX. But please, don't. Just don't. --Dale -- clairvoyant, n.: A person, commonly a woman, who has the power of seeing that which is invisible to her patron -- namely, that he is a blockhead. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
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