Re: [Groff] Handling '...'

[Mike Bianchi]

On Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 10:54:27PM +0200, Tadziu Hoffmann wrote:
>       :
> > [...] since typographers and designers had never been happy
> > with the full word space [...]
> 
> Any citations on this?  The typophile forum seems divided
> on the issue.  Chicago apparently specifies a 1/3 em space
> between dots.
>       :

Ah, the differences of opinion.  Ever it has been so.
The trick is to construct the work so that when faced with the
"required change" one keeps one's sanity.


It is clear to me that this is another case where
What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) typesetting is fundamentally flawed.

Advantage groff, latex and the like.

The ellipsis in any particular work is usually used to convey some
literal or stylistic meaning.  That says to me that the _important_ thing
is to use it consistently through out the work.

                He thought . . . and then acted.

So the right thing (to me) to do, in the groff context, is to define
an  ellipsis  object, such as

                    .ds ellipsis ".\ .\ ."

and then _always_ use _that_ object in the text when _that_ meaning
is to be conveyed.

                He thought \*[ellipsis] and then acted.

Better yet is to define the object in terms of the meaning, so it is clear
to the author what the original meaning was.

                    .ds long_pause ".\ .\ ."

                He thought \*[long_pause] and then acted.

Then, when the editor insists that the typography for a particular meaning
be different, the correction is both easy and localized to just those
places that should be affected.

-- 
 Mike Bianchi