Re: [Gramps-devel] How shall preformatted notes be output?

[Peter L. <pet...@te...>]

<snip>

> > James Treacy and I have discussed this subject regarding LaTex output.
> > We need some consensus how it should be in general for consistent result.
> >
> > Regarding Notes:
> > There are four possible cases:
> > 1.  unformatted notes with "styles" like bold, italic...
> > 2.  unformatted notes without any "styles".
> > 3.  preformatted notes with "styles" like bold, italic...
> > 4.  preformatted notes without any "styles".
> >
> > Unformatted:
> > 1. and 2. are OK now. See below.
>
> Yes, I added that.
>
> > Should LF be kept in unformatted notes?
>
> No, only if there is an extra line, then it becomes a paragraph. This
> is like in html.
OK. This is not the case for all output formats. I will try try fix this.

> > Preformatted:
> >
> > 3. is "forbidden" as it may change the formatting.
> >   So skip "styles" in this case and implement it as 4.
>
> yes, it is no problem not to support certain elements
>
> > 4. should be implemented with fixed font in order to keep the formatting.
>
> No, users should choose a monospace font in the note if they want that.
OK. Then I think  we should add to the tool tip something like:
"Use monospace font to keep preformatting"

> > I think "Formatting" in this context is defined as formatting with
> > spaces, tabs, new lines like a simple table, but not formatting by
> > changing style parameters.
> > Is this correct an interpretation?
> >
> > As example: Notes are now shown as "pre" in HTML and ODT with styles and
> > in RTF without styles. In pdf and LaTex it's not  "pre" with styles. So,
> > it's a mixture.
>
> RTF was only added some months ago by Serge.
RTF has all para in Arial 12. See if I can do anything about this.

> What happens in pdf? I don't remember now. I think whitespace is kept.
PDF seems to be OK.

In PlainText, tab and white spaces are not OK. LF's are OK.
I will work with James Treacy to look at LaTex.

> When I changed the doc, the definition for preformatted became as on
> screen for all changes I did:
>
> 1/preformatted notes keeps the whitespace as you type it, so an LF is
> an LF, and 4 spaces is 4 spaces. That's it
> 2/normal notes are indicated in doc as preferred, as backends can
> prettify them, so in latex, html, ... the paragraphs become nicely
> flowed, even if you enter some LF in your note while
> typing/copy-pasting it.
>
> So preformatted is equal to normal notes, except that it gives an
> indication to the backend that you as a user want the whitespace to
> come out as you typed it in the note.
OK

> Please stick to this definition in all cases, and consider all else bugs.
> Some backends can handle preformatted better than others. Eg, some
> will add LF when the margin is reached, others will try not to do
> that. One can discuss what is best, if you long table, doing an LF
> messes all columns.
OK.

> Under the above definition, using pre in html is the bug. It should be
> done differently. The idea was to use pre, and have the css redefine
> that as necessary to keep whitespace. Some css guru said that was
> possible as it was inside a div grampsstylednote. I don't think the
> css work was done however.
HTML uses a pre section for preformatted notes.
Better someone with HTML/CSS look at this.

/Peter