I posted something. Then I noticed that it was formatted wrong! I went back to fix it in edit mode. It seemed fine in edit mode. I saved it again. It was still wrong.
The thing that was wrong: In source / edit, my sentences are separated with the charcters “period space space”. This is a typing standard that improves legibility, which is extra important in effortposts. However, in the displayed mode, one of every double space had been eaten! Every post, every comment, mangled! Sentences are separated with “period space” instead of “period space space” and the text is slightly less legible for it. I noticed it for questionmark space space and exclamationmark space space as well. There’s some secret life form eating spaces.
Testing behavior: Period Space: Sentence 1. Sentence 2.
Period Space Space: Sentence 1. Sentence 2.
Period Space Space Space: Sentence 1. Sentence 2.
Yep, saw it in preview, all the spaces are getting eaten. This is a crime against good style. I won’t go so far as to say this is a hate crime against anyone who struggles with reading and visual processing… yet. But the site is editing my comment in order to enforce an objectively worse typographical standard (period singlespace). Literally 
. 
on Communist Bear Site they automatically censor out your punctuation marks in order to make your writing conform to a worse standard, calling double spaces a bourgeois decadent waste of space.
Please help
(Also, should this go in /c/technology or in /c/hexbear? It’s about both)
(Should I be submitting this as a bug report on github instead?)
It’s the long s, a variant of the letter s, which has been uſed in Engliſh (and moſt other languages that uſe the Latin alphabet) for moſt of its written hiſtory. It ſtarted to fall out of faſhion in the 19th century, but I ſtill uſe it in accordance with the typeſetting rules followed in high-quality printing of the late 18th century. Regarding readability, that’s one reaſon I uſe it, other than finding hiſtorical printing beautiful and intereſting, as well as other reaſons : The more varied ſhape the long s adds to words and lines of text can aid reading. I’ve had people ſay it helps with dyſlexia too, but alſo have had people ſay it’s not helpful and confuſing. I’ve been conſidering making a poſt here to get the opinions of people here from a materialiſt perſpective, as the dialecticks involved are curious to think about, and I’ve been internally debating whether it actually does what I believe and intend with its uſe.
how do you feel about the þ? i have seen a few people on lemmy bringing þat one back
Þ is a neat letter, and I think it’s actually quite uſeful. I perſonally don’t uſe it in my orthography, but I’d ſupport its general uſe. It would, in my opinion, be an improvement, and ſave on ſome typing, as th is the moſt common digraph in Engliſh, and would give the language a nice flow in reading.
Maybe if someone gets used to that character it can be more readible, but it makes it much less smooth to read for me now. I would guess it fell out of usage because to me it seems unnecessary. I don’t mind the triple spaces really though. But I think being further away from the general standard can make the format distract from the content of the text because it’s not as typical and makes it take more time to comprehend, for me at least.
That’s a good point : it can be more difficult to read if not acclimated to it, which ſomewhat negates the potential benefit. Seeming unneceſſary or being more complex is one reaſon it fell out of faſhion, but the primary driver, at leaſt in Engliſh, was ſocio-political. People at the time wanted to draw a diſtinction between the old way and new way as things were being more and more induſtrialized and ſtandardized—new typefaces alſo were being developed and adopted at the time, further reflecting theſe feelings and deſire for change. The arguments in favour of the long s and its potential benefits are far leſs objectively diſcernable than thoſe for wider ſpacing. It’s alſo true that being farther from what is familiar can take longer to comprehend or read, which could be poſitive if ſomeone takes more time to think about what they’re doing or what one is trying to convey, but negative if it detracts and diſtracts from the content, as you pointed out.
I do appreciate your effort though, language is always evolving, things go out of favor and come back so it’s cool to try different styles to see if they can catch on or can be useful. A lot of things that were modernized from the classical era to the industrial/post industrial era might not actually be ideal for things like accessibility or freedom of expression etc, compared to things that were developed over centuries. I find the style a bit odd because I don’t see it much, but having more characters in English writing could definitely be useful and helpful for learning pronunciation possibly.
Language is always evolving, and that’s great. It’s intereſting when things go in and out of favour, much like faſhion. the really great thing is where it can help with acceſſibility and freedom of expreſſion or other elements, where modern tools and methods can really help it ſhine and be eaſier to write how one wants, or diſplay text how one wants or needs, than it ever was hiſtorically.
Wider ſpacing is ſomething that is truly uſeful and of great benefit to both humans and machines ; the long s, I’d ſay that the main benefit is one of expreſſion and æſthetick overall, and juſt an orthographical convention and viſually different way of doing things. It can be beneficial, but I worry it can alſo be harmful, and looking at ſome of the language reforms in places like the USSR and China, or the Literacy Campaign in Cuba, we can ſee that having ſomething more ſimple might be more beneficial to literacy, but there is ſtill room for different preſentation or ways of writing, eſpecially when people can eaſily cuſtomize their viewing experience. The main iſſue with that, however, is the general technological barrier and fact that there’s no default way to do that without going out of one’s way to get the right addons or typefaces, which ought to be available by default. That would be a great acceſſibility feature.
I would read that
Ah shit the long s is growing on me. My biggest complaint is that I don’t like how the little read-aloud voice in my head pronounces “started” as “ftarted”.
I also don’t know why it exists. Was it because of handwriting conventions?
farted to fall out
It can take time to learn to read with it, as it can be ſimilar to other letters. Moſt people ſee it being ſimilar to an f, to which it is moſt ſimilar, but I’ve alſo had people ſay it looks like an l or even t to them, which is intereſting.
It originates in Old Roman Curſive, where it was an elongated form of s, where it was juſt part of the convention. After that, it was uſed in all forms of the alphabet, and has thus been uſed in moſt languages that alſo uſe the Latin alphabet. Newer languages don’t have it hiſtorically, but even Vietnameſe did uſe it at one time. It later was uſed in printing. Here’s an article that talks a bit about its hiſtory and uſe, and here’s another that talks about the rules for its uſe in different languages and time periods ; although, it doeſn’t liſt all languages or rules, as it doeſn’t cover caſes like “ misſtate ” verſus “ croſstie.” It is one of the moſt comprehenſive articles I’ve ſeen, though, and is overall very good. Hiſtorical people never wrote down much about its uſe, which is intereſting, as everyone was uſing it for about a thouſand years.