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Re: [Groff] Typesetting dashes


From: Steve Izma
Subject: Re: [Groff] Typesetting dashes
Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2013 16:48:48 -0500
User-agent: Mutt/1.5.21 (2010-09-15)

On Sun, Nov 17, 2013 at 10:51:09PM +0400, Anton Shepelev wrote:
> Subject: [Groff] Typesetting dashes
> 
> I  should  like  to  typeset em dashes surrounded by
> thin, say 1/4th en, spaces.  To prevent a dash  from
> starting  a  new  line,  the first space must be un-
> breakable.  The  second  one  must  be  discardable.
> Both spaces must be unstretchable.  How to do it?

I suggest you rethink the idea of "unstretchable". Presumably you
are using an em dash to separate phrases, so that it works
similarly to a semicolon or a set of parentheses. Even though
traditionally em dashes have often been set without any spacing,
I feel the effect is to join the two adjacent words together,
which can often separate them from their associated phrases. If
you use a unbreakable space it should always be equal and never
less than the word spaces in the rest of the line. I think for
this reason Robert Bringhurst offers as an alternative an *en*
dash surrounded by normal word spaces, which will always keep the
rhythm of the words on the line consistent and be discarded if
they fall at the end of a line without any extra typographical
work on your part. I also don't see any reason why a dash can't
begin a line; it still retains its function as a separation or
introduction to a new phrase.

        -- Steve

-- 
Steve Izma
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