View Problem Report: 11049

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Reporter's email:	`sk at cs dot brown dot edu`
Number:	`11049`
Category:	`all`
Synopsis:	`HTML Scribble doesn't handle --- properly`
Class:	`sw-bug`
Responsible:	`mflatt`
Notify-List:
Severity:	`serious`
Priority:	`medium`
State:	`closed`
Confidential:	`no`
Arrival-Date:	`Mon Jul 26 23:04:01 -0400 2010`
Closed-Date:	`Tue Dec 14 09:17:54 -0500 2010`
Last-Modified:	`Tue Dec 14 09:17:54 -0500 2010`
Originator:	`Shriram Krishnamurthi`
Organization:	`plt`
Submitter-Id:	`unknown`
Release:	`5.0`
Environment:	windows "Windows NT 6.1 (Build 7600)" (win32\i386\3m) (get-display-depth) = 32 Human Language: english (current-memory-use) 242541588 Collections: (("C:\\Users\\sk\\AppData\\Roaming\\Racket\\5.0\\collects" non-existent-path) ("C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Racket\\collects" "2htdp" "afm" "algol60" "at-exp" "browser" "combinator-parser" "compiler" "config" "defaults" "deinprogramm" "drracket" "drscheme" "dynext" "embedded-gui" "eopl" "errortrace" "ffi" "file" "framework" "frtime" "games" "graphics" "gui-debugger" "help" "hierlist" "htdp" "html" "icons" "info-domain" "lang" "launcher" "lazy" "macro-debugger" "make" "mred" "mrlib" "mysterx" "mzcom" "mzlib" "mzscheme" "net" "openssl" "parser-tools" "plai" "planet" "plot" "preprocessor" "profile" "r5rs" "r6rs" "racket" "racklog" "rackunit" "raco" "reader" "readline" "redex" "rnrs" "s-exp" "scheme" "schemeunit" "scribble" "scribblings" "scriblib" "setup" "sgl" "slatex" "slideshow" "srfi" "stepper" "string-constants" "swindle" "syntax" "syntax-color" "teachpack" "test-box-recovery" "test-engine" "tex2page" "texpict" "trace" "typed" "typed-scheme" "unstable" "version" "web-server" ! "wxme" "xml")) Computer Language: (("Determine language from source") (#(#t print mixed-fraction-e #f #t debug) (default) #() "#lang racket\n" #t))
Description:	`Scribble should generate "—", not "-".`
File Attachments:
How-To-Repeat:
Fix:
Release-Note:
Unformatted:

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Audit Trail:

From: Matthew Flatt <mflatt at cs.utah.edu>
To: sk at cs.brown.edu, bugs at racket-lang.org
Cc: nobody at racket-lang.org, bug-notification at racket-lang.org
Subject: Re: [racket-bug] all/11049: HTML Scribble doesn't handle --- properly
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 06:32:31 -0500

 At Mon, 26 Jul 2010 23:04:01 -0400, sk at cs.brown.edu wrote:
 > Scribble should generate "&mdash;", not "-".

 The space en dash space rendering of em dash is intentional. It's based
 on advice I kept seeing when I was first working on Scribble's HTML
 output: lots of recommendations to typeset an em dash as a
 space-separated en dash.

 I don't remember the rationale given for the advice. I think the
 overall reason was that a separate-separated en dash rendered more as
 an em dash should, perhaps due to browser limitations.

 So, I could be convinced that we should change, but the current
 behavior is not merely an oversight.

From: Shriram Krishnamurthi <sk at cs.brown.edu>
To: Matthew Flatt <mflatt at cs.utah.edu>
Cc: bugs at racket-lang.org, nobody at racket-lang.org,
        bug-notification at racket-lang.org
Subject: Re: [racket-bug] all/11049: HTML Scribble doesn't handle --- properly
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 07:36:39 -0400

 I suspect that was a reaction against the lack of a portable way of
 getting an em-dash, which meant people tended to instead write it like
 so--which was rather ugly since it rendered as two en-dashes.  (Or
 worse, as three.)  It looked better to offset it with space and a
 single dash.

 But now that there seems to be a portable way to specify it, that's
 what I use.  (&#151; also does the trick, but I don't know how
 standards-compliant that is.  Whereas &mdash; is pretty clear.)

 Shriram
From: Matthew Flatt <mflatt at cs.utah.edu>
To: Shriram Krishnamurthi <sk at cs.brown.edu>
Cc: bugs at racket-lang.org, nobody at racket-lang.org,
        bug-notification at racket-lang.org
Subject: Re: [racket-bug] all/11049: HTML Scribble doesn't handle --- properly
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 06:44:42 -0500

 At Tue, 27 Jul 2010 07:36:39 -0400, Shriram Krishnamurthi wrote:
 > I suspect that was a reaction against the lack of a portable way of
 > getting an em-dash,

 No, it wasn't as simple as that.

From: Matthew Flatt <mflatt at cs.utah.edu>
To: Shriram Krishnamurthi <sk at cs.brown.edu>
Cc: bugs at racket-lang.org, nobody at racket-lang.org,
        bug-notification at racket-lang.org
Subject: Re: [racket-bug] all/11049: HTML Scribble doesn't handle --- properly
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 07:18:07 -0500

 At Tue, 27 Jul 2010 06:44:42 -0500, Matthew Flatt wrote:
 > At Tue, 27 Jul 2010 07:36:39 -0400, Shriram Krishnamurthi wrote:
 > > I suspect that was a reaction against the lack of a portable way of
 > > getting an em-dash,
 > 
 > No, it wasn't as simple as that.

 As I try to remember, I think it had more to do with linebreaks. I see
 that Firefox on Mac OS X doesn't break a line after an em dash, instead
 pushing the word before to the next line.

 There are, of course, ways to suggest that the browser break a line
 without inserting space. That's another area of weak browser support,
 though, an so on. Since space-separated en dashes look about right,
 they are considered respectable in some parts of the publishing world,
 and they save you lots of browser-portability problem, the conclusion
 was that it's a good way to go, especially with relatively narrow
 columns.

 I don't claim to be much of an expert myself, and I may now misremember
 the details. I'm just trying to follow advice of people who seem to
 have thought about the issue.

From: Shriram Krishnamurthi <sk at cs.brown.edu>
To: Matthew Flatt <mflatt at cs.utah.edu>
Cc: bugs at racket-lang.org, nobody at racket-lang.org,
        bug-notification at racket-lang.org
Subject: Re: [racket-bug] all/11049: HTML Scribble doesn't handle --- properly
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2010 08:24:22 -0400

 Would you consider space mdash space?
Responsible changed from "nobody" to "mflatt" by mflatt at racket-lang.org at Tue, 14 Dec 2010 09:17:54 -0500
Reason>>> A commit by mflatt at racket-lang.org has resolved this report
  http://git.racket-lang.org/plt/commit/0b1b3772f5
State changed from "open" to "closed" by mflatt at racket-lang.org at Tue, 14 Dec 2010 09:17:54 -0500
Reason>>> A commit by mflatt at racket-lang.org has resolved this report
  http://git.racket-lang.org/plt/commit/0b1b3772f5