[aprssig] Spaces in NAMES Manifesto...

[Steve Noskowicz]

I skipped many posts, but if not covered...

Don't just put the expected behavior in the spec. I  believe it is good practice if the spec:

1 - Explicitly states that SPACE is a printable character.  It is an understandable interpretation that others may still have.  It may also be a good idea to say that anything else that puts ink/toner on paper is also classed as printble (If, indeed, I understand the intent correctly) rather than assume they will know.  The new kids on the block don't know about no stinkin' ASCII spec. from 1968.

2 - Explicitly states something to the effect that; 
 "Although multiple imbedded spaces (spaces between other printable characters) are preserved and not compressed down to to one (i.e. are completely different objects/names...), they must be used carefully and are generally considered poor practice due to the human-readable ambiguity of:
 "NAME A", "NAME  A" and "NAME   A"  on a display."

  I think it should also recommend that other characters be used instead of the space i.e. the commonly accepted "_".   Also that if multiple spaces are mandated, something like "_._" or" _-_" is preferred because multiple "_" can also be ambiguous on some displays/printouts.

You are free to take as long as you wish to get to the point of the leading spaces, but eventually, put it CLEARLY in writing.


-- 73, Steve, K9DCI
  http://k9dci.home.comcast.net/

Sheesh! Took long enough to get to the heart of this matter.