Re: Variable-width font indentation

[Paul Eggert]

On 03/09/2018 12:30 AM, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> I don't think that approach is appropriate for
> code indentation, because leading whitespace in code blocks_must_
> always align, IMO.

I don't quite follow this objection, since the prototype does align 
leading whitespace in code blocks. That is, in any particular block of 
code consisting of lines prefaced by equivalent white space, the 
approach displays the block with equally-indented lines, so the leading 
whitespace does align.

If the objection is that different blocks of code are indented 
differently (e.g., an if-part might be indented slightly differently 
from the corresponding then-part), then I agree that might irritate some 
users. However, the irritation is quite small to me, and I imagine it 
wouldn't bother other users much either, in the sense that they'll be 
willing to put up with this minor irritation in order to get the 
benefits that the algorithm has elsewhere. So it still sounds like a 
reasonable thing to support, if a user wants to use it.

Of course other display algorithms are possible, but I haven't seen any 
other improvement proposed for variable-pitch fonts that is nearly as 
simple and easy to understand. Simplicity is a virtue here.