elastic tabstops, proportional fonts, and more

[Bowerbird at aol.com]

nick said:

>    http://nickgravgaard.com/elastictabstops/


exactly.   thanks for writing it up, nick.

the only thing i'd add is the notion that
tables should be copyfit to the viewport.

if the viewport gives you plenty of room,
give the columns some breathing space.
if not, tighten them as much as needed.

***


>    http://readown.googlecode.com/


cool.   now how about an authoring-tool?

bbedit?   um, no thanks.   i never understood
the appeal of a text-editor with no support
for styled text.   _simpletext_ had styled text!
sorry, if you don't do styled text, you do suck.

i use tex-edit, from tom bender.   fantastic.
doesn't just _support_ styled text, but also
lets you _do_searches_ with specific styles.
and it costs $15, with free updates for life.
that even gets you the fucking source code.
heck, i'm gonna send tom $15 more today,
because that guy is an asset to the world...

i'll take another look at mars-edit as well...

***

and while i'm here causing a fuss again,
let me ask the big questions once again:

who's gonna write the browser plug-in?

and who's gonna get markdown bundled
right into the very _guts_ of the browser?

i want to _serve_ markdown files per se,
and avoid the stupid .html middleman...

the world is full of technical dummies who
will kiss the feet of the person who gives
them the means to return to "the old days"
when .html was a simple thing to create...

today's xhtml/css mess is one sick joke
that the technoids pulled on the public
to reassert the role of "required experts".
it's time to disintermediate them again...

that's my opinion, and i'm stickin' to it...

***

david said:

>    The  comment that started this sub-thread 

>    was a throwaway line, really


ok, sorry i made even a small deal about it.

but still, now you've got my curiosity going...

while granting anyone and everyone my _full_
permission to use _whatever_ font they prefer,
even if someone else thinks that it might not be
the best tool for the job, i am wondering about
the "expectation" markdown brings to the table.
(ha, look, i made a little pun, to be lighthearted.)

gruber, if you're reading, would you answer this:
do you use a monospaced font to write your blog?
or to write _anything_ that you do with markdown?

-bowerbird



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