Markdown Discuss - Feb 2009 - A Modest Definition List Proposal (David E. Wheeler)

Taking David's example further, here is a first try:

  id |  name   |   description     |      more info
-----+---------+-------------------+-----------------
   6 | Inset   | An inset element  | just one element
   8 | Stories | Another element   | another element
                                   : with 2 lines, without
                                   : colons on the left.
   9 | Other   | Another element   | another element
     :         :                   : with 2 lines, with
     :         :                   : colons on the left.
   5 | Illust. | An illustration   | new line, would this do?
     :         : and I think you   : Is it parseable?
     :         : know what I mean.

The colon at each empty cell looks like vertical ellipsis, that makes it
pretty legible

Adding a 'wrappable' cell definition would go a long way to make it
perfect.

Le 2009-02-25 ? 1:04, Benoit Perdu - TransM?kong a ?crit :
> Taking David's example further, here is a first try:
>
>  id |  name   |   description     |      more info
> -----+---------+-------------------+-----------------
>   6 | Inset   | An inset element  | just one element
>   8 | Stories | Another element   | another element
>                                   : with 2 lines, without
>                                   : colons on the left.
>   9 | Other   | Another element   | another element
>     :         :                   : with 2 lines, with
>     :         :                   : colons on the left.
>   5 | Illust. | An illustration   | new line, would this do?
>     :         : and I think you   : Is it parseable?
>     :         : know what I mean.
I doubt the no-colon-on-the-left lines will work. I mean, how do you  
know you're writing in fourth column without counting whitespace? (And  
if count whitespace it's unusable with proportional fonts.)

> The colon at each empty cell looks like vertical ellipsis, that  
> makes it
> pretty legible
Colons are a nice way to do it, but I doubt the table will be readable  
by anyone not already aware of the syntax. To see what I mean, just  
take a look at the last column and forget for a moment that you know  
the difference in meaning between ":" and "|". It then looks
like one
big paragraph of continuous text. You can disambiguate by reading the  
text, then figure out the meaning of "|" and ":", but
that's removing
the usefulness of a table which should be scannable at first glance.

If you want multiple lines per cell, I'd suggest using a more explicit  
grid, something like this:

	 id |  name   |  description     |      more info
	====|=========|==================|====================	  6 | Inset   | An inset
element | just one element
         ----|---------|------------------|---------------------
           8 | Stories | Another element  | another element
             |         |                  | with 2 lines
         ----|---------|------------------|---------------------
           9 | Other   | Another element  | another element
	    |         |                  | with 2 lines
         ----|---------|------------------|---------------------
           5 | Illust. | An illustration  | line breaks are not
             |         | andn I think you | possible in a table
             |         | know what I mena.|

This is totally unambiguous and easy to scan for the reader. The  
problem is that, even though it's easy to read, it's also more tedious  
to write.

-- 
Michel Fortin
michel.fortin at michelf.com
http://michelf.com/

On Feb 24, 2009, at 10:04 PM, Benoit Perdu - TransM?kong wrote:
> Taking David's example further, here is a first try:
>
>  id |  name   |   description     |      more info
> -----+---------+-------------------+-----------------
>   6 | Inset   | An inset element  | just one element
>   8 | Stories | Another element   | another element
>                                   : with 2 lines, without
>                                   : colons on the left.
>   9 | Other   | Another element   | another element
>     :         :                   : with 2 lines, with
>     :         :                   : colons on the left.
>   5 | Illust. | An illustration   | new line, would this do?
>     :         : and I think you   : Is it parseable?
>     :         : know what I mean.
>
> The colon at each empty cell looks like vertical ellipsis, that  
> makes it
> pretty legible
Yes, nice. I think I like how it looks without the left colons better,  
though it could potentially work both ways.
> Adding a 'wrappable' cell definition would go a long way to make it
> perfect.
Do you mean something more should be added, or that the use of `:` to  
define wrapped cells in this example is what goes a long way?

Thanks,

David