It's an experiment I've been trying for about two weeks, now.
I am using whitespace to make written English easier to read.
I put one sentence per line.
Long sentences are broken into multiple lines
    according to natural breaks in the sentences.
(I try to aim for an 80 column width.)
Indentation is used to signal the continuation of a sentence.
Basically, I am treating English like a programmer would treat code.
As an interesting and unexpected corollary,
    the English is much easier to edit, and
    diffs are way cleaner.
(I'm editing this in an external dedicated text editor.)

[–] xetem@pawb.social 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, but reading this on moblie is complete and utter ass. Rule 1 of formatting, don't force others to adhere to your formatting style.

[–] etuomaala@sopuli.xyz 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

What is this mobile thing of which you speak?
But seriously, if your screen can't fit 80 columns, then
    what am I supposed to do about that?
My phone can do that easily.

[–] Daefsdeda@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

I find it amusing, thank you

[–] rabbit_wren@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm not a programmer, but I think I see what you're trying to do. I have ADHD and less-than-ideal eyesight. This is easier to read, comprehension-wise, in that I'm not getting "lost" in the text and losing my place and having to re-read paragraphs; but the font you're using is a little blurrier than the default (I think it's the serifs) and is a little more difficult for me to physically read. Maybe increasing the font size or changing to a different font would work better?

[–] etuomaala@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Lemmy uses the system default for monospace font.
Try changing the monospace alias in /etc/fonts/local.conf:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Font_configuration/Examples#Default_fonts

That's for system-wide effect.
For just firefox, go to Settings > General > Fonts > Advanced and
    change the default Monospace font to a monospace font you like.

Source Code Pro and DejaVu Sans Mono are both very good.

[–] Karyoplasma@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

It's less readable on mobile clients because code blocks don't linebreak automatically. I have to side-scroll your comments to read them in full, so the only feeling I get from your experiment is slight annoyance.

Raw text preserves whitespaces, so if I wanted them, I'd just show that instead. I don't get it.

[–] whoisearth@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And it's still pretentious AF lol

[–] petrol_sniff_king@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Why is it pretentious?

[–] snugglesthefalse@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The whole air of " I know what's best for you and you don't"

[–] petrol_sniff_king@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 year ago

And what if I found this useful? Wouldn't you be deciding for me what's best?

[–] whoisearth@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm special and because of that my comments need to look different than everyone else

Furthermore I'm doing this for reasons you won't fully understand because I'm cooler than you

It seriously comes across like some autist green text from 4chan. Imagine if you had a buddy that only conversed in Olde English. You still understand them but Jesus Christ.

[–] petrol_sniff_king@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh, I get it. You're just mad.

Never mind, then.

[–] whoisearth@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

Lol you realize we are on The Internet right? They can do them I'm simply stating it's dumb AF. Anyways, you do you too.

[–] etuomaala@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 year ago

Can your web browser zoom the text out?

[–] petrol_sniff_king@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The 80-column width, as some have pointed out, can't really be counted on, unfortunately. But I think this is neat. Reminds me of greentext.

I might try something like this in my own notes for work.

[–] etuomaala@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 year ago

What is greentext?

[–] eltimablo@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

In what way do you consider it easier to read raw HTML than it is to read properly-formatted text? This text displays all of its tags on kbin and it's a nightmare to read.

[–] etuomaala@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 year ago

That's a problem with kbin, then.
There are no tags in lemmy.

[–] etuomaala@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 year ago

Aw, gross.
kbin is written in php.
Thanks, but no thanks, lol.

[–] Zoop@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

Why are you wanting to preserve white space in your comments? Maybe it's just how it shows up on my screen, but I'm not seeing or understanding why or what the usage was in your initial comment here, or what the benefit was.

To be clear, I'm not judging or anything, especially since it's not like you're hurting anyone! Ultimately, you do yo thang! I'm just curious and interested to understand where you're coming from. Is it just for funsies?

[–] snugglesthefalse@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

Meanwhile I'm here on dark mode and none of you have any white space so it clearly doesn't work