1. Forum
  2. Fidonet
  3. ENGLISH TUTOR

  • Jokes of the season

    From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Ardith Hinton on Sun Jan 9 20:36:34 2022
    Ardith Hinton:

    BTW... certain Fidonetters who are blind or visually
    impaired tend to use software which limits them to 40
    lines. I can cope with that because I read newspapers &
    magazines, and I do want to hear what they have to say.
    :-)

    We used 40 characters per line in the English translation of
    Star Heritage:

    https://freeshell.de//~antonius/img_host/star_heritage/ingame-01-3x.png

    ---
    * Origin: nntp://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Ardith Hinton on Sun Jan 9 20:43:28 2022
    Ardith Hinton to Anton Shepelev:

    Considerate treatment of message text is one of the key
    requirements in GNKSA -- Good Netkeeping Seal of
    Approval.
    I interpreted this comment as a joke.

    Now, I meant it in earnest:

    https://web.archive.org/web/20160417105503/http://www.gnksa.org/gnksa.txt

    There's an American magazine called GOOD HOUSEKEEPING
    which reports on testing of common household items by
    the Good Housekeeping Institute, and manufacturers who
    have earned their "Seal of Approval" for any such item
    generally display it on the product.

    Whence the inspiration for GNKSA.

    ---
    * Origin: nntp://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From Anton Shepelev@2:221/6 to Alan Ianson on Sun Jan 9 20:58:18 2022
    Alan Ianson:

    This editor I am using now (GoldED) will save paragraphs
    as one long line.

    I see a lot of posts written via GoldED and formatted to a
    limited line width, usually the standard 72 charactes. It
    must be configurable in the settings.

    I prefer when editors use one long line for a paragraph.
    Then readers can wrap those lines as appropriate for the
    terminal size being used by the reader instead of
    wrapping as the writer sees it since they could be
    different.

    This is hightly non-standard, for readers are not required
    to warp long lines. In Usenet, Fidonet, and e-mail, this is
    the responsiblity of the sender. Here is the relevant
    excerpt from GNKSA, but you shall find statements to similar
    effect in RFC and other standards and guidelines:

    14) Try to respect the 80-character line-length
    conventions

    Any line breaks shown to the user while she is editing
    her article SHOULD still be present when the article is
    actually posted to the Net. The software SHOULD NOT show
    the user four 75-character lines while actually posting a
    single 300-character line. Nor should it show the user a
    series of 100-character lines while actually posting
    alternating lines of 80 and 20 characters each.

    It's also a good idea to warn the user if the article she
    is about to post contains non-header lines longer than 80
    characters. The software SHOULD NOT prevent the posting,
    but SHOULD ask whether the user wants to re-edit or post
    anyway.

    A standard-conforing way to have a flexible line width is
    Format=Flawed :

    https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2646#section-4.1

    ---
    * Origin: nntp://news.fidonet.fi (2:221/6.0)
  • From mark lewis@1:3634/12.73 to Anton Shepelev on Sun Jan 9 15:42:18 2022

    On 2022 Jan 09 20:58:18, you wrote to Alan Ianson:

    This editor I am using now (GoldED) will save paragraphs
    as one long line.

    I see a lot of posts written via GoldED and formatted to a
    limited line width, usually the standard 72 charactes. It
    must be configurable in the settings.

    that may be a function of the display code in whatever BBS, terminal, or mail reader one is using... these days line lengths are generally not forced except in cases of charts and tables but it depends on the software used to create the message as well as the software in use at the other end...

    quotes, like mine above, are a different but similar matter...

    )\/(ark

    "The soul of a small kitten in the body of a mighty dragon. Look on my majesty, ye mighty, and despair! Or bring me catnip. Your choice. Oooh, a shiny thing!"
    ... RADIO SHACK - You've got questions! We've got blank looks!!!
    ---
    * Origin: (1:3634/12.73)
  • From Ardith Hinton@1:153/716 to Anton Shepelev on Tue Jan 25 23:12:21 2022
    Hi, Anton! Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

    We used 40 characters per line in the English translation
    of Star Heritage:


    IOW you were one of the translators?

    Makes sense to me... particularly if you can't be sure who's in the audience. I understand this is a video game & I reckon other folks might want to play it on whatever device(s) they have available. It seems you are making allowances for their hardware/software & for those who don't read books. :-))




    --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)