• etuomaala
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    1 year ago
    It's an experiment I've been trying for about two weeks, now.
    I am using whitespace to make written English easier to read.
    I put one sentence per line.
    Long sentences are broken into multiple lines
        according to natural breaks in the sentences.
    (I try to aim for an 80 column width.)
    Indentation is used to signal the continuation of a sentence.
    Basically, I am treating English like a programmer would treat code.
    As an interesting and unexpected corollary,
        the English is much easier to edit, and
        diffs are way cleaner.
    (I'm editing this in an external dedicated text editor.)
    
    • Xetem@pawb.social
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      1 year ago

      Yes, but reading this on moblie is complete and utter ass. Rule 1 of formatting, don’t force others to adhere to your formatting style.

      • etuomaala
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        1 year ago
        What is this mobile thing of which you speak?
        But seriously, if your screen can't fit 80 columns, then
            what am I supposed to do about that?
        My phone can do that easily.
        
    • Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de
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      1 year ago

      It’s less readable on mobile clients because code blocks don’t linebreak automatically. I have to side-scroll your comments to read them in full, so the only feeling I get from your experiment is slight annoyance.

      Raw text preserves whitespaces, so if I wanted them, I’d just show that instead. I don’t get it.

    • petrol_sniff_king@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      1 year ago

      The 80-column width, as some have pointed out, can’t really be counted on, unfortunately. But I think this is neat. Reminds me of greentext.

      I might try something like this in my own notes for work.

    • rabbit_wren@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      I’m not a programmer, but I think I see what you’re trying to do. I have ADHD and less-than-ideal eyesight. This is easier to read, comprehension-wise, in that I’m not getting “lost” in the text and losing my place and having to re-read paragraphs; but the font you’re using is a little blurrier than the default (I think it’s the serifs) and is a little more difficult for me to physically read. Maybe increasing the font size or changing to a different font would work better?

      • etuomaala
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        1 year ago
        Lemmy uses the system default for monospace font.
        Try changing the monospace alias in /etc/fonts/local.conf:
        https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Font_configuration/Examples#Default_fonts
        
        That's for system-wide effect.
        For just firefox, go to Settings > General > Fonts > Advanced and
            change the default Monospace font to a monospace font you like.
        
        Source Code Pro and DejaVu Sans Mono are both very good.
        
    • eltimablo@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      In what way do you consider it easier to read raw HTML than it is to read properly-formatted text? This text displays all of its tags on kbin and it’s a nightmare to read.

      • etuomaala
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        1 year ago
        Aw, gross.
        kbin is written in php.
        Thanks, but no thanks, lol.
        
      • etuomaala
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        1 year ago
        That's a problem with kbin, then.
        There are no tags in lemmy.