[Doc-SIG] [development doc updates]

[Moore, Paul]

From: Fred L. Drake [mailto:fdrake@acm.org]
> 
> The development version of the documentation has been updated:
> 
>     http://www.python.org/dev/doc/devel/
> 
> Slightly improved version of the experimental change; in 
> signature lines that start with "class " or "exception ",
> avoid line breaks between the leading word and the class
> or exception name.
> 
> Please continue to provide comments on the change to 
> doc-sig@python.org or to python-docs@python.org.

In http://www.python.org/dev/doc/devel/lib/module-copyreg.html, using IE6 on
a Windows 2000 machine, scroll down to the definition of pickle() at the
bottom. Narrow the window, and when you reach a certain point, the "("
following the function name word wraps onto the next line, resulting in

    pickle type, function[,
    (      constructor])

The "(" shouldn't be allowed to wrap.

I know this is a borderline case of a borderline case, but I'm not sure that
the benefits of all this are worth it. Even when wrapped "properly", you get

    pickle( type, function[,
            constructor])

which doesn't look right to me with the "[," hard up against the "function".
I'd prefer the "[," to wrap with the following parameter. To do that, you'd
need to use unbreakable spaces. Are these universally supported (or even
available??) And would unbreakable spaces work in any case? The original
problem I noted with "pickle(" would seem to imply that IE6 may well choose
to break between text and punctuation anyway.

I guess this is only really important for users on very narrow screens
(PDAs?), so their comments are probably more important here...

Paul.