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This page (revision-13) was last changed on 19-Oct-2007 00:42 by 207.171.180.101  

This page was created on 09-Jan-2007 20:23 by RadomirDopieralski

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At line 3 changed one line
''About unordered lists and bold: a line starting with ** (including optional whitespace before and afterwards), immediately following an unordered list element a line above, will be treated as a nested unordered list element. Otherwise it will be treated as the beginning of bold text. Also note that bold and/or italics cannot span lines in a list.''
//About unordered lists and bold: a line starting with {{{**}}} (including optional whitespace before and afterwards), immediately following an unordered list element a line above, will be treated as a nested unordered list element. Otherwise it will be treated as the beginning of bold text. Also note that bold and/or italics cannot span lines in a list.//
At line 5 changed one line
I think it's ugly and complicates the parser needlessly. Also, many wikis already have very similar list markup, just without this special case -- making them accept both Creole and native markup at the same time would require some sort of a hack (I can't even imagine it currently). One possible way of getting rid of that special case and still keeping list markup unambigous with bold markup is __requiring__ a space after the bullet.
I think it's ugly and complicates the parser needlessly. Also, many wikis already have very similar list markup, just without this special case -- making them accept both Creole and native markup at the same time would require some sort of a hack (I can't even imagine it currently). One possible way of getting rid of that special case and still keeping list markup unambigous with bold markup is //requiring// a space after the bullet.
At line 7 removed 8 lines
Now, this is a different case than with space __before__ the bullet. There are wiki engines that don't allow space before the bullet, and those that require it -- making it optional is really the only way to make them agree. On the other hand, no wiki engine I know prohibits the space after the bullet. Some require it.
Moreover, putting a space after most punctuation characters is a tradition, and for many people -- a reflex. I can see nothing unnatural in requiring it -- and __it simplifies the parsers and the specs__ -- making Creole both easier to implement and to teach.
For consistency's sake, it would also apply to the numbered lists and indentation (if included) -- that resolves a conflict with {{{#pragma}}} syntax that some wikis use.
We can also drop the requirement of emphasis not spanning lines with this.
At line 16 changed 7 lines
*more user freedom
*less ongoing user frustration (user will
keep forgetting to add the required space)
*already in [Creole 0.4]
*less keypresses
*less space taken up by the raw text in
the (possibly narrow) textarea
* no opportunity for mistakes
** since both space and no space are interpreted the same, the user doesn't need to remember to put the space
* compact text
** list items without the space after them take up less horizontal space in the text area
** long urls in lists may invoke a wrapping bug, leaving the bullet alone on a line -- with the line wrapped at the space immediately after the bullet
** less keystrokes are required to type list items
** it is faster to convert a collection of prargraphs into a list by just putting a single asterisk in front of every paragraph
* "smart" behavior
** the right decissions for users in most common cases
** users will be impressed with the system
* already exists
** this is the behavior defined for Creole so far
** this is implemented in some of the Creole parsers
At line 23 added 25 lines
* looks better
** nice-looking interface means better emotional response of the users and perceived "friendliness"
** additional space provides for easy scanning of text, making it more readable
** because of technological deficiences of wikis, users need to find the place they wanted to edit in the raw text; spacing marks the structure of the document visually
* is simple
** the ambiguities with other markup are solved once and for all
** the rule is very simple to explain, making Creole easier to teach
** the rule can be easily observed by the users, making Creole easier to learn
** Creole is easier to design and maintain with less special cases
* is local
** the result of formatting depends only on the line's content itself, not on the context in which the line appears
** the text can be easily moved around, copied and pasted
** users don't need to scroll the text area to make sure what the formatting does
** the markup that worked before in one case will also work the same in other cases
** parsers can be tested and debugged more easily, as there is less interaction of different rules
* is traditional
** it is a well established tradition, coming from the era of typewriters, to put a space after the bullet; this tradition is carried over to text files on computers
** it is even older tradition in typography to put lead after (to the right of) punctuation characters like periods, colons, dashes or bullets
** the space appears there anyways when rendered using practically any text rendering mechanism popular in wikis -- be it HTML, XHTML, docbook, LaTeX or texinfo.
* is user friendly
** users make less mistakes with simple rules
** allows to use single asterisks for bold, even when it is not parsed
** introducing additional markup is easier, without a risk of introducing new conflicts and ambiguities
** users don't need to do additional formatting of other's text to make it readable and easy to edit
** removes unnatural restrictions from other markup -- emphasis can span lines, list items can consist of multiple lines
At line 26 removed 9 lines
* no ambiguity with bold
* no ambiguity with {{{#pragma}}} or {{{##comment}}}
* more readable (and nicer, heh) raw text
* leaves more space for extending Creole (eg. using different characters for bullets), solves the ambiguity problem once and for all
* consistent with the tradition of putting a space after punctuation characters
* consistent with the practice of using at least two characters for markup
* consistent with the (both default and traditional) presentation
* already used in thousands of text documents
At line 37 removed one line
At line 40 changed one line
== Without the space ==
=== Without the space ===
Version Date Modified Size Author Changes ... Change note
13 19-Oct-2007 00:42 8.221 kB 207.171.180.101 to previous Fixed spelling
12 14-Feb-2007 08:05 8.221 kB RadomirDopieralski to previous | to last reworked the arguments
11 08-Feb-2007 17:15 6.904 kB RadomirDopieralski to previous | to last visual comparsion
10 06-Feb-2007 15:22 2.711 kB ChuckSmith to previous | to last
9 06-Feb-2007 13:54 2.715 kB ChuckSmith to previous | to last
8 01-Feb-2007 16:57 2.657 kB RadomirDopieralski to previous | to last removed 'makes parsers easier to write'
7 01-Feb-2007 14:08 2.69 kB ChuckSmith to previous | to last ongoing user frustration
6 31-Jan-2007 21:33 2.66 kB RadomirDopieralski to previous | to last
5 31-Jan-2007 21:25 2.613 kB RadomirDopieralski to previous | to last more advantages, few more disadvantages
4 31-Jan-2007 21:20 2.523 kB RadomirDopieralski to previous | to last more advantages
3 31-Jan-2007 18:17 2.034 kB ChuckSmith to previous | to last advantages and disadvantages
2 11-Jan-2007 10:12 1.789 kB 150.254.78.41 to previous | to last missing }
1 09-Jan-2007 20:23 1.788 kB RadomirDopieralski to last mostly copied from discussion, added some points
« This page (revision-13) was last changed on 19-Okt-2007 00:42 by 207.171.180.101