[Users] word wrapping

[Steve Litt]

On Sun, 26 Oct 2014 16:01:35 +0000
R Kimber <richardkimber at btinternet.com> wrote:

> On Sun, 26 Oct 2014 09:39:07 -0400
> Michael A. Yetto wrote:
> 
> > As I heard the explanation, the reason for two spaces after the
> > end of a sentence is due to the difficulty to see the tiny
> > or faint dot left by most typewriters. The second space makes
> > the end of the sentence more prominent which is unnecessary with
> > a properly designed typeface.
> > 
> > Personally, I don't feel the loss of the second space.
> 
> I'm not entirely convinced by these historical 'reasons'; but,
> aesthetically, I prefer to have two spaces, and that's what I always
> put when I'm word-processing.  It just looks better.
> 
> - Richard.

Some of us like 1 space after period, some like 2, some don't care.

Now let's look at the elephants in the room:

* Claws-Mail currently has one of the best word-wrapping algorithms
  around. It wraps for you, rewrapping is just deleting a newline and
  inserting a space, and if you REALLY want a long line, you can
  (carefully) do it. It's an all-around great word wrapping algorithm,
  and one of the reasons I stay with Claws.

* It's been said more than once on this list that the word-wrapping
  algorithm is difficult, prone to breakage upon modification, and
  people are scared to mess with it.

* One space more or less after period isn't a showstopper, it's an
  aesthetic choice not important enough (to most of us) to jeopardize
  working code. Plus the fact that the person who prioritizes
  aesthetics over functionality is probably using Thunderbird anyway.

So, for those practical reasons, I suggest we leave well enough alone.

SteveT

Steve Litt                *  http://www.troubleshooters.com/
Troubleshooting Training  *  Human Performance