FW: Re: [Groff] Misformatting of CR font in PIC macros

[Ted Harding]

Since my message below has not been sent to me by the groff
list (after 1 hour), nor has appeared in the archives, I am
re-sending it (and taking the opportunity to add a further
comment -- se at end).

-----FW: <address@hidden>-----

Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2011 10:21:35 -0000 (GMT)
From: (Ted Harding) <address@hidden>
To: address@hidden
Subject: Re: [Groff] Misformatting of CR font in PIC macros
Cc: address@hidden

On 04-Feb-11 09:48:42, Werner LEMBERG wrote:
>> The left-hand boxes in the figure contain "Filename" in Roman and
>> below it "hash.c" in Courier.  While in the pic macros both have the
>> same x offset, "hash.c" is offset further to the right than
>> "Filename", when both were expected to be exactly left-aligned.
>> Note that changing \fC to \fR results in perfect alignment.
> 
> The difference in formatting is due to the different width of spaces
> in the two fonts.  You shouldn't write
> 
>   \fR foo \fP...
>   \fC bar \fP...
> 
> but rather
> 
>   \fRfoo\fP...
>   \fCbar\fP...
> 
> groff is not LaTeX :-) spaces after a `\fX' command are *not*
> suppressed.
>     Werner

And, if you really need a left-space to separate the text from
the left-hand edge of the box, and preserve alignment, use a
space in the samse font (TR) both times -- like:

"\s12\fR \fP\fChash.c\fP" at 1.062,8.721 ljust
"\s12\fR Filename\fP"     at 1.062,9.096 ljust

and *not*

# "\s12\fC hash.c\fP"   at 1.062,8.721 ljust
# "\s12\fR Filename\fP" at 1.062,9.096 ljust

Hoping this helps!
Ted.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <address@hidden>
Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861
Date: 04-Feb-11                                       Time: 10:21:31
------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------

--------------End of forwarded message-------------------------

FURTHER COMMENT:
Note that Courier uses a fixed-width "box" for each character,
but a character will be centred in its box. Hence a character
with a narrow visible glyph (like "l") will have more visible
space either side of it than a wide one (like "W"). You will
probably see this effect in your example, since the "h" in
"hash" is on the narrow side, while the "F" in "Filename" will
be quite a wide character (and in Times will have less space
anyway because of the variable box width).

Therefore the result of your code above will probably show
the "h" apparently somewhat to the right of the "F".

If that bothers you, then you will have to fudge it "by hand"
by using an explicit horizontal displacement in your string.
For example (not tested):

"\s12\fR \fP\h'-0.125n'\fChash.c\fP" at 1.062,8.721 ljust
"\s12\fR Filename\fP"     at 1.062,9.096 ljust

Ted.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <address@hidden>
Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861
Date: 04-Feb-11                                       Time: 11:33:10
------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------