A Modest Definition List Proposal (David E. Wheeler)

[David E. Wheeler]

On Feb 25, 2009, at 5:34 PM, Seumas Mac Uilleachan wrote:


> Admittedly it is easier to create legible text documents with lots  

> of bullets and tables and definition lists if you are using a  

> monospace font but in my experience monospace fonts are generally  

> just harder to read. The beauty of markdown is that you can  

> approximate the spacing of monospace by varying the whitespace. Or  

> just let it be "wonky". (Of course what looks beautiful in one  

> proportional font will be wonky in another anyway)


Yes, but it will look different in every proportional font. Even if  
you use tabs, some folks will have four-space tabs and others will  
have eight-space tabs, so you can't expect it to look the same.

The only way to guarantee consistency is to use a monospaced font. It  
doesn't matter so much for things like paragraphs, of course, but once  
you get into some other things like nested lists, it can make all the  
difference.

Best,

David