A Modest Definition List Proposal (David E. Wheeler)

[Michel Fortin]

Le 2009-02-25 à 1:04, Benoit Perdu - TransMékong a écrit :


> Taking David's example further, here is a first try:

>

>  id |  name   |   description     |      more info

> -----+---------+-------------------+-----------------

>   6 | Inset   | An inset element  | just one element

>   8 | Stories | Another element   | another element

>                                   : with 2 lines, without

>                                   : colons on the left.

>   9 | Other   | Another element   | another element

>     :         :                   : with 2 lines, with

>     :         :                   : colons on the left.

>   5 | Illust. | An illustration   | new line, would this do?

>     :         : and I think you   : Is it parseable?

>     :         : know what I mean.


I doubt the no-colon-on-the-left lines will work. I mean, how do you  
know you're writing in fourth column without counting whitespace? (And  
if count whitespace it's unusable with proportional fonts.)



> The colon at each empty cell looks like vertical ellipsis, that  

> makes it

> pretty legible


Colons are a nice way to do it, but I doubt the table will be readable  
by anyone not already aware of the syntax. To see what I mean, just  
take a look at the last column and forget for a moment that you know  
the difference in meaning between ":" and "|". It then looks like one  
big paragraph of continuous text. You can disambiguate by reading the  
text, then figure out the meaning of "|" and ":", but that's removing  
the usefulness of a table which should be scannable at first glance.

If you want multiple lines per cell, I'd suggest using a more explicit  
grid, something like this:

	 id |  name   |  description     |      more info
	====|=========|==================|=====================
	  6 | Inset   | An inset element | just one element
         ----|---------|------------------|---------------------
           8 | Stories | Another element  | another element
             |         |                  | with 2 lines
         ----|---------|------------------|---------------------
           9 | Other   | Another element  | another element
	    |         |                  | with 2 lines
         ----|---------|------------------|---------------------
           5 | Illust. | An illustration  | line breaks are not
             |         | andn I think you | possible in a table
             |         | know what I mena.|

This is totally unambiguous and easy to scan for the reader. The  
problem is that, even though it's easy to read, it's also more tedious  
to write.

-- 
Michel Fortin
michel.fortin at michelf.com
http://michelf.com/