On Sun, Jun 25, 2006 at 02:44:10PM -0400, Jay R. Ashworth wrote:
On Sun, Jun 25, 2006 at 12:26:36PM -0600, Chad Perrin wrote:
While we're at it, we might consider whether to allow line wrapping, but provide a line-wrap indicator syntax to show that what appears on a separate line of the page is in fact meant to be part of the same semantic line of code. I'm thinking of examples such as the plus-syntax used on websites such as perlmonks.org. An example of this usage might look something like this:
|while (<>) { | if ( $scalar_foo <= $scalar_bar ) && ( $scalar_bar <= $array_qux[2] +|) { | print; | } |}
. . . where the plus character is typically some differentiating color, such as red. That may or may not be appropriate for something like MediaWiki -- I only bring it up as something to consider.
Mutt does that with wrapped URL's in my mail. It's a pain because you can't then paste the copied text in without having to fix it.
On one-line URL's, this is practical.
If it's a couple hundred lines of code, maybe not so much.
I, too, use mutt, and have the same issue from time to time. It's easily solved with XHTML and CSS, though: use block elements and styles to position the plus signs (or whatever) in a separate block from the stuff you want to wrap, or use inline element styles to attach some visual cue like a left-side or right-side thin and understated border, or use a left-aligned background image on wrapped lines, or turn the block of code with line-wraps into a link to a plaintext file without linewraps, or . . .
One of the benefits of rendered markup with styles is that it allows you to use something other than content characters within the same block of content as visual presentation, thus allowing for visually associated characteristics that are not associated as closely according to what your mouse will highlight for copying and pasting.