Re: [Pan-users] Howto unwrap text in body pane to available space

[Steven D'Aprano]

On 03/08/13 16:50, ashwin kesavan wrote:
> HI,
>
> I am using pan 0.139 . I have a big screen. I see that pan wraps text in
> message to 80 char or something like that. How do i make pan text to fill
> the available space in body pane ? Like free floating text. I am unable to
> find a setting that can do this. My searches on google haven't produced
> anything useful.

Your eyes will thank you not to do this.

There is a reason why wide newspapers and magazines wrap text into short
columns of about 60-70 chars (8-10 words). Unless you are using a
bi-directional language which reads left-right, right-left, it is much
harder to return to the start of the next line if the line is extremely
wide: eye strain increases, concentration suffers, reading speed slows
down, and the rate of errors increases.

[start rant]
It's really annoying how young people today think that nobody ever read text
before the invention of the iPad, and there is nothing to learn from the
print and publishing industries, who have been dealing with text readability
issues for a few centuries now and might be expected to have learned a few
things. These young people need eighteen months of National Service to whip
them into shape.
[end rant]

:-)


Only kidding about the National Service part, but the rest is only half
tongue in cheek. Really, publishers have been dealing with readability
issues for centuries, and have learned a few things about what makes text
easy to read. Really wide lines is *not* one of those things.



--
Steven