Re: [boost] Re: Thoughts on Format

From: James Kanze (kanze_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-01-30 18:13:55

"Stewart, Robert" <stewart_at_[hidden]> writes:

    [...]
|>  Now, let me introduce an entirely new concept into the discussion:
|>  spring tabs.  Many years ago, Borland released a word processor
|>  called Sprint.  I loved that app.  It was completely scriptable in a
|>  C-like language which made extending it fun and powerful.
|>  Nevertheless, that app used a tab concept which I call "spring
|>  tabs."  (I can't remember if that was their term or not.)  Spring
|>  tabs make left, center, right, alignment and other horizontal
|>  formatting highly intuitive.

|>  A spring tab works, like its name implies: like a spring, pushing in
|>  two directions equally.  In the examples that follow, "@" will
|>  represent a spring tab:

|>      1. Right
|>          "@text"

|>      2. Center
|>          "@text@"

|>      3. Left and right
|>          "text_at_text"

|>      4. Left, center, and right
|>          "text_at_text@text"

|>      5. 1/3 and 2/3
|>          "@text_at_text@"

|>      6. 3/4
|>          "@@@text@"

|>  If we could incorporate spring tabs into this formatting class, it
|>  would be a generalized, powerful, yet easy to use, improvement.
|>  We'd have to decide what character represents a spring tab, but I
|>  think it would be highly useful.  I have implemented the logic for
|>  spring tabs, so this isn't an abstract concept that would require
|>  significant effort.

|>  What do you think?

We could actually incorporate all of the LaTeX formatting commands, and
do line breaks as well.

-- 
James Kanze                                mailto:kanze_at_[hidden]
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