On Sun, Jun 25, 2006 at 08:47:37PM +0200, Andrew Dunbar wrote:
On 6/23/06, Jay R. Ashworth <jra(a)baylink.com>
wrote:
On Thu, Jun 22, 2006 at 12:21:28PM -0600, Chad
Perrin wrote:
Would requiring spaces on either side of the
double dash before
converting it into an emdash improve the parsing behavior any?
Please don't.
<snob type=typography>
Em dashes are properly set in English text without spacing on either
side, though the ASCIIography of this usage is much less picky.
Can you provide a reference for this? Also can you be
sure this is the only style and that it doesn't vary by
style guide, by publisher, by country, by newspaper vs
novels, etc.
The reason I ask is that I've been studying casually how
they are typeset in books as part of my thinking about
an XML format for e-texts. I have seen so many cases
both with and without spaces that I've been pondering
whether it would best be handled as a style issue.
I think it most definitely is best handled as a style issue, or perhaps
as a per-document or per-content-block formatting issue. I still have
my preference for spaces, though. They make it look less like an
oversized hyphen.
--
CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [
http://ccd.apotheon.org ]
"The ability to quote is a serviceable
substitute for wit." - W. Somerset Maugham