On Fri, 22 Nov 2013 00:41:52 -0500 Peter Schaffter <pe...@schaffter.ca> wrote:
> On Thu, Nov 21, 2013, James K. Lowden wrote: > > While I'm in the neighborhood, I wonder if commas in numbers get > > special treatment? Reading over my document, the number 34,800 > > looked bad; the comma was squished over by the eight. The effect > > was especially noticable when the comma trails a 7. To correct, > > > > .ds xterm \s-1\fH\&xterm\f[]\s+1 > > .ds comma \h'-5M',\h'7M' > > > > 38\*[comma]400 bits per second Hi Peter, > 1. Why aren't you using the ever-so-handy '.fzoom' for your > Helvetica? Ah, that would seem to be because I'm using out-of-date documentation. I have 1.21 installed on another machine, but the MANPATH still includes 1.19. Thank you for the pointer. > 2. Do your numbers have to line up? If so, make sure kerning's > disabled. That solves the comma problem. By which I suppose you mean the .kern request? It doesn't seem to matter, please see attached PDF output for this file -ms: .NP .ds comma \h'-5M',\h'7M' .IP kerned 2,261,760 .IP unkerned .kern 0 2,261,760 .kern .IP custom 2\*[comma]261\*[comma]760 Looking at the PDF with 400% magnification, I don't see a difference. Looking that the ditroff (is that what to call it?) I think I know why: the commands look identical. Both output "t2,261,760" for the number, see below. BTW, I'm not satisfied with any of them. groff places the comma too far east for my taste; I suppose I think the rule should be that it land exactly halfway between the numbers, perhaps one pixel west. Agreed the 1 and 7 are too far apart. I didn't want to fuss with individual digit pairs. In this example, I'm using groff 1.19, which is the stock install on my yellowing OS X machine. I normally don't pay a lot of attention to which version I'm using, but perhaps in this case it matters? --jkl x T ps x res 72000 1 1 x init p1 V84000 H72000 x X devtag:.col 1 x font 5 TR f5 s10000 V84000 H72000 md DFd tk H76900 terned wh2500 n12000 0 V96000 H97000 t2,261,760 n12000 0 V111600 H72000 x X devtag:.col 1 V111600 H72000 tunk H86900 terned wh2500 n12000 0 V123600 H97000 t2,261,760 n12000 0 V139200 H72000 x X devtag:.col 1 V139200 H72000 tcustom wh2500 n12000 0 V151200 H97000 t2 H101500 t, h700 t261 H119200 t, h700 t760 n12000 0 V768000 H504000 n12000 0 x trailer V792000 x stop
kern.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document
