Re: Spaced out

["Dick Margulis " <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net>]

Alex,

I've seen the same thing. I'm sure many of us have. I usually just fix the damn thing (either using a macro or search/replace, depending on the context). It's easier than changing behavior of people who think they're too important to bother with that stuff. 

However, if you have a person who seems willing to learn but is graphically clueless, try changing the margins or point size to make such a passage come out all funky and then print out a sample page to demonstrate what the problem is. Next, sit in front of your monitor with the developer and look at the document with markers turned on so the spaces are visible dots (or whatever). Point out the hanging indent styles you use; show how the indent controls work; show the same passage properly formatted. Usually, one such lesson will result in at least some improvement, and the person may even be sufficiently interested to come back to you for further help in the future. Ya never know.

Dick

"Alex Silbajoris" wrote:
>
>
>As I have been combing through some detail specification documents prepared 
>by developers, I'm finding many instances of an odd behavior.  I wonder if 
>anyone can cofirm a hunch I have.
>
>The developers who populated these documents have the habit of using the 
>space bar to advance the cursor to the next line, instead of hitting a hard 
>return or a shift-enter combination. This puzzled me for months, but I think 
>I may know why this habit seems to be so ingrained.  Some of these documents 
>have system screen shot facimilies, composed in monospace type, and the 
>screen shots use spaces to position text.  Perhaps these people simply use 
>the same technique to compose a page of hanging-indent paragraphs made 
>entirely of text and spaces, without a single return character on the page.  
>(Of course, you can imagine what happens when the top paragraph is edited.)
>
>Has anyone else seen this as a cultural tradition among developers?  Is 
>there some tactful way to tell them they're keystroking like they're unaware 
>the software can wrap lines?


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