At 7:33 PM 9/2/93 -0400, Nathaniel Borenstein wrote:
look best locally. What I had in mind for the default state of
text/enriched is more or less "it might be justified and it might not,
depending on what works and looks good locally."
So then why not say exactly that, instead of saying that full justification
is the default?
I think not specifying it gives you several advantages:
1. It does not give the impression that justification really ought to be
done, either to users or to implementors, thus removing an encouragement to
doing justification where it is not needed.
2. It removes an ambiguity. If justification is on by default, but I'm
allowed to not justify if I don't want to, then what do I do if the user
explicitly specifies justification? Am I also allowed to not justify? If
I need not obey the explicit directive, then the sender can't force
justification. If I must obey the explicit directive, but need not obey
the default, then the default state is not the same as fully justified
anyway.
I think it would be better to leave the initial state unspecified, and say
so. But it's not that big a deal if I'm allowed to ignore it, so I won't
belabor the point further.
--
Steve Dorner, Qualcomm Inc.