[xep-support] Support of special types of spaces

David Priest priest at sfu.ca
Wed Oct 19 10:05:19 PDT 2005


On 19-Oct-05, at 9:08 AM, David Tolpin wrote:
>> for starters, it's an abuse of the leader object.
>
> It's what the leader object is for.

It is not a typical use for leader objects.

>> The thin space is used to separate digit groups in numbers with  
>> five or more digits.  It is a hard space, narrower than the word  
>> space, and will not be adjusted in width when trying to achieve  
>> justification.  Thin spaces are part of the System International  
>> specification: using commas between digits is passé.
>
> This one is not in many fonts, and its width is font-dependent.

Its width is *supposed* to be font-dependent.  Whether it's in many  
fonts or not is irrelevant.

>> En and em spaces find modern use in providing a bit less/extra  
>> space when emphasizing the separation of an element from its  
>> group, while still maintaining the visual cohesion of the whole  
>> group.
>>
>> Hair spaces are to be used on either side of an em dash.
>
> This one is not in many fonts, and its width is font-dependent.

Again, its width is *supposed* to be font-dependent.  Whether it's in  
many fonts or not is irrelevant.

>> I believe Mats is absolutely correct in requesting that XEP  
>> recognize and honour the various types of spaces.
>
> I believe that Mats does not request that, but instead that the XSL  
> recommendation specify how to handle them; because XEP is  
> conforming now. And, in turn, I believe that not providing special  
> handling for typographical spaces is a good thing.

All XEP has to do is accept that several forms of space are fixed- 
width, and thus should not be subject to variation due to  
justification.  The spaces can be inserted using entity names or  
unicode character values.



-------------------
(*) To unsubscribe, send a message with words 'unsubscribe xep-support'
in the body of the message to majordomo at renderx.com from the address
you are subscribed from.
(*) By using the Service, you expressly agree to these Terms of Service http://www.renderx.com/terms-of-service.html



More information about the Xep-support mailing list