marcello said:
I see with pleasure that you have implemented many of my suggestions and made your page blackness more even.
i haven't "implemented" even one of your suggestions; any changes i made are ones i always intended to make. you've commented on my first two alice versions. would you like me to comment on _your_ first two? the ones that go back to 2003? i can, if you want. and let me remind people that i never did go back and fully critique your _current_ .pdf, due to its "pimples". there are a number of other comments i could make... so if i were you, marcello, i wouldn't be throwing stones. indeed, as i said a while back, your best course of action would be to decide to refrain from commenting at all. because i _am_ going to run circles around your .tei...
You made such a horrible fuzz about widow *lines* that I wonder why you dont care a bit about widow *words*? A paragraph should never end with a line containing one single word, (like 'sing' on page 100).
well, most typographers aren't concerned about "widow words". but some are. and, if doing so doesn't cause a worse problem, my program will strive to eliminate even these "widow words"... so far, you haven't seen _any_ of my line-wrapping adjustments. but you will.
A truly knowledgeable typographer would laugh into your face on seeing this.
even the typographers who do care about "widow words" won't laugh in your face if you haven't controlled for them. the mandate simply is not that great.
Why do you use both, an empty line *and* an indent to mark paragraphs? One kind of markup is enough.
selection of which one to use -- or both -- is a user option. while i usually prefer the "blocked" style, with no indent at all, i've chosen to display the indents in these examples because -- as i said -- a while back there was a big (tempestinateapot) controversy about whether my format would _incorrectly_ indent some "pseudo-paragraphs", so i wanted to demonstrate that it actually does a very accurate job. do you see any errors? but it's simply not accurate that "one kind of markup is enough" in this particular regard. book typographers do indent paragraphs -- almost universally -- but many use a "space above" value too. (which is essentially what my blank line above each paragraph is.) and in my option to have blank lines displayed, the choice is _not_ a binary one (show blank lines or not), but rather a _percentage_. if the user chooses 100%, then they will get a "full-size" blank line. if they choose 50%, they'll get "half" a blank line. but the lowest setting that i allow is 20%. (or maybe it's 25%. can't remember.) so they are _always_ gonna get _some_ space above a paragraph, even if it's only as little as one-fifth the size of a "full" blank line... one reason for that is to reproduce that "space above" component. the user can add as much or as little as their own tastes dictate. but also, if there are two blank lines -- indicating a thought-break -- the user can readily discern that from the display. if i were to shrink the blank lines away entirely, thought-breaks wouldn't be noticeable. (i could solve this problem another way, by flagging thought-breaks, but the "space-above" strategy is one i wanted to include anyway.)
Also: the first paragraph in a chapter should not be indented.
ah! you got something right! that is indeed the prevailing convention. it is also one that i have never agreed with, so i did my implementation the way i like it. i like programming, because i make the rules. maybe i'll give users the option. maybe not.
The margins are still too small.
they're just right for an on-screen .pdf. which is just what this is an example of. but margins are definitely a user-option, so there's no use even discussing it here.
Your images don't align with the bottom line of the text on the facing page.
they will, when i finalize the positioning. right now, i think the image-caption is still a bit too close to the line above it. as soon as i've got that how i want it, then i'll worry about the picture bottom.
Some of your poetry is coming out in a washed-out pink (147).
those are lines that need to be "chopped". for the time being, i have indicated that by showing them in smaller type, and that color. thank you for your feedback, even though i said work is ongoing and feedback wasn't necessary. this post was within range of being constructive. (but just barely.) -bowerbird