At 11:17 AM 8/26/93 -0400, Nathaniel Borenstein wrote:
Yes, actually I think that there's no really right answer here. The
whole notion of line breaks is such a paper-oriented anachronism,
carried over into CRT's that acted like infininte pieces of paper. I'd
be very surprised to hear that there's any policy that will satisfy
everyone all the time. -- NB
Since I basically agree it seems silly to quibble. (But I will anyway
:-)). Line breaks do serve a useful purpose. Space and positioning
can be
used to emphasize or organize parts of a writer's message. Relegating
line-breaks as an anachronism denies their utility as a simple means for
formatting. We shouldn't throw the baby out with the bath water just
because the problem is hard. Part of why I want a RichText definition is
because, conceptually, it enables us to write cooperating UAs which give
senders explicit control over formatting.
It is difficult to say (at least for me) when RichText is rich enough, or
conversely, when it is too complex to be useful. In addition, UI's to
implement richtext (such as those found in word processors, for example)
lack simple controls to do simple things like insert white space and
control ends of lines -- or perhaps you think rulers and their multiple
controls really are simple and intuitive.
john noerenberg
jwn2(_at_)qualcomm(_dot_)com
noerenberg.j (Applelink)
In San Francisco, CA 8/24-27 attending INTEROP '93!
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Days to come stand in front of us like a row of lighted candles---
golden, warm and vivid candles.
-- Candles, Constantine Peter Cavafy [1899]
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