Tab Function Needed

[Dennis M. Marks]

Has anyone developed a function that can determine the width of a text
string using a proportional font? I would like to do this in order to
insert a variable number of spaces after the text to simulate a tab.

--
Dennis M. Marks


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[Lasse Reichstein Nielsen]

Re: Tab Function Needed

"Dennis M. Marks" <denmarks@dcsi. net> writes:
[color=blue]
> Has anyone developed a function that can determine the width of a text
> string using a proportional font? I would like to do this in order to
> insert a variable number of spaces after the text to simulate a tab.[/color]

Before trying that, you should know that multiple spaces in HTML are
collapsed, and even if you use non-breaking spaces (which don't
collapse either) or a CSS whitespace setting that prevents it, you
can't aim precisely with spaces. Your "tabs" won't be aligned, because
you can only add an integer multiplum of the width of a space.

I would try to find another way of implementing "tabs".
/L
--
Lasse Reichstein Nielsen - lrn@hotpop.com
DHTML Death Colors: <URL:http://www.infimum.dk/HTML/rasterTriangleD OM.html>
'Faith without judgement merely degrades the spirit divine.'

[swp]

Re: Tab Function Needed

Lasse Reichstein Nielsen <lrn@hotpop.com > wrote in message news:<fzfqtrhn. fsf@hotpop.com> ...[color=blue]
> "Dennis M. Marks" <denmarks@dcsi. net> writes:
>[color=green]
> > Has anyone developed a function that can determine the width of a text
> > string using a proportional font? I would like to do this in order to
> > insert a variable number of spaces after the text to simulate a tab.[/color]
>
> Before trying that, you should know that multiple spaces in HTML are
> collapsed, and even if you use non-breaking spaces (which don't
> collapse either) or a CSS whitespace setting that prevents it, you
> can't aim precisely with spaces. Your "tabs" won't be aligned, because
> you can only add an integer multiplum of the width of a space.
>
> I would try to find another way of implementing "tabs".
> /L[/color]

perhaps I am misunderstandin g what you are trying to do, but wouldn't
it be very easy to simulate this with a table that has borders turned
off?

swp

[Dennis M. Marks]

Re: Tab Function Needed

In article <fzfqtrhn.fsf@h otpop.com>, Lasse Reichstein Nielsen
<lrn@hotpop.com > wrote:
[color=blue]
> "Dennis M. Marks" <denmarks@dcsi. net> writes:
>[color=green]
> > Has anyone developed a function that can determine the width of a text
> > string using a proportional font? I would like to do this in order to
> > insert a variable number of spaces after the text to simulate a tab.[/color]
>
> Before trying that, you should know that multiple spaces in HTML are
> collapsed, and even if you use non-breaking spaces (which don't
> collapse either) or a CSS whitespace setting that prevents it, you
> can't aim precisely with spaces. Your "tabs" won't be aligned, because
> you can only add an integer multiplum of the width of a space.
>
> I would try to find another way of implementing "tabs".
> /L[/color]

I was able to do it using monospace fonts but I don't like the look of
the font. Can someone recommend the monospace font to use that would
look better?

http:www.dcs-chico.com/~denmarks/amtrak.html

There is a "tab" between the train name and station names in the first
select box.

P.S. It would still be nice to have a way to do it with proportional
fonts.

--
Dennis M. Marks


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[Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn]

Re: Tab Function Needed

Dennis M. Marks wrote:
[color=blue]
> I was able to do it using monospace fonts but I don't like the look of
> the font. Can someone recommend the monospace font to use that would
> look better?[/color]

Use "Courier New" as first alternative. But the font renders very
small here anyway. And you should try not to use `px' but `em'.
Unfortunately, IE is unable to scale content formatted with font-size:...px;
[color=blue]
> There is a "tab" between the train name and station names in the first
> select box.[/color]

There is nothing, not even a list if JavaScript is disabled or not
supported.
[color=blue]
> P.S. It would still be nice to have a way to do it with proportional
> fonts.[/color]

Why don't you use a table? You *have* tabular data here. Use the
first column of the table as container for a group of radio buttons,
the second for the train name and the third for the description.
With a server-side application to process the selected train on submit,
you could accomplish this to be suitable for users with and without
client-side JavaScript support.


PointedEars

[Dennis M. Marks]

Re: Tab Function Needed

In article <a59bd1d2.03121 20559.5de394b@p osting.google.c om>, swp
<DSAsteve@aol.c om> wrote:
[color=blue]
> Lasse Reichstein Nielsen <lrn@hotpop.com > wrote in message
> news:<fzfqtrhn. fsf@hotpop.com> ...[color=green]
> > "Dennis M. Marks" <denmarks@dcsi. net> writes:
> >[color=darkred]
> > > Has anyone developed a function that can determine the width of a text
> > > string using a proportional font? I would like to do this in order to
> > > insert a variable number of spaces after the text to simulate a tab.[/color]
> >
> > Before trying that, you should know that multiple spaces in HTML are
> > collapsed, and even if you use non-breaking spaces (which don't
> > collapse either) or a CSS whitespace setting that prevents it, you
> > can't aim precisely with spaces. Your "tabs" won't be aligned, because
> > you can only add an integer multiplum of the width of a space.
> >
> > I would try to find another way of implementing "tabs".
> > /L[/color]
>
> perhaps I am misunderstandin g what you are trying to do, but wouldn't
> it be very easy to simulate this with a table that has borders turned
> off?
>
> swp[/color]

I have a <form><select>< option> list. The selection list contains train
name followed by first/last station. I wanted the latter to be tabbed
from the first. I was able to do it with a monospace font. See

http://www.dcs-chico.com/~denmarks/amtrak.com

I thought it would be nice to use a proportional font.

--
Dennis M. Marks


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