spaces and newlines before list markers (was: evolving the spec)

[Waylan Limberg]

On Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 11:42 AM, Seumas Mac Uilleachan
<seumas at idirect.ca> wrote:

> david parsons wrote:

>  > In article <fa4efbc00802291558t35aeed62o329ed3bde495e3a0 at mail.gmail.com>,

>  > Yuri Takhteyev <markdown-discuss at six.pairlist.net> wrote:

>  >

>  >

>  >> Is it so much work, though, to then change the numbers of just the

>  >> first two items to "1." and "2."?  Note that I am not suggesting that

>  >> all numbers must be consecutive - just the first two.  In fact, I

>  >> would also throw in the idea of making the numbers themselves optional

>  >> for all subsequent elements.  I.e. the following should be enough:

>  >>

>  >> 1. Item one

>  >> 2. Item two

>  >> . Item three

>  >> . Item four

>  >> . Item five

>  >>

>  >

>  >

>  >    But that's not very readable, is it?

>  >

>  >    When I look at a list in the source document, I'd expect to see

>  >    a list.    I don't know of very many (if any) cases where the

>  >    numbers in the list just sort of trail off and leave every item

>  >    prefixed with a bullet.

>  >

>  >

>  >

>  It is also hard to distinguish between . for numbered list and - for

>  bullet list when reading.

>

>


I agree. Remembering the philosophy that markdown is to be readable
first - this doesn't fit. Additionally, Markdown is meant to be a
format to write email in, which can later be easily converted to html.
I'll never format a list in an email that way, and I doubt anyone else
would either. I realize many markdown documents will never be viewed
by the public in their raw form, but that's beside the point. The
above suggested syntax would just be an excuse for lazy authors and
adds no real value IMO.



-- 
----
Waylan Limberg
waylan at gmail.com