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0 pointseviks2y ago0 comments

So the intuition for _ would be underlining! Pretty simple. Where would your intuition jump to for underlining in markdown if _ is italics?

Em is just another bad term - which of the emphasis styles do you mean?

Re popularity - so what? How does widespread bad turns into intuitive good?

Bear notes used / for italics, also Orgmode (is that geek enough for you?)

0 comments

kazinator2y ago

> Where would your intuition jump to for underlining in markdown if _ is italics?

You have you know the fact that actual underlining had been traditionally used as a substitute for italics in hand-written and typewritten papers.

As in, in a citation, when you give a title of a book, you underline it, unless using a word processor with fonts, in which case you use italics.

Learned this in high school.

eviksOP2y ago

Did they teach you in high school the relevance of that history? Does the fact that it'd been traditionally used as a substitute mean you can't use underlining now, so it should not event exist in markup?

kazinator2y ago

It's pretty obvious that underlining is something that rarely appears in print. It is mainly an annotation device: something added to finished print, by hand.

When was the last time you saw underlines in a book that weren't added by a previous reader?

Underlines are bad typography that should be used sparingly, if ever.

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0 pointseviks2y ago0 comments

So the intuition for _ would be underlining! Pretty simple. Where would your intuition jump to for underlining in markdown if _ is italics?

Em is just another bad term - which of the emphasis styles do you mean?

Re popularity - so what? How does widespread bad turns into intuitive good?

Bear notes used / for italics, also Orgmode (is that geek enough for you?)

0 comments

kazinator2y ago

> Where would your intuition jump to for underlining in markdown if _ is italics?

You have you know the fact that actual underlining had been traditionally used as a substitute for italics in hand-written and typewritten papers.

As in, in a citation, when you give a title of a book, you underline it, unless using a word processor with fonts, in which case you use italics.

Learned this in high school.

eviksOP2y ago

kazinator2y ago

It's pretty obvious that underlining is something that rarely appears in print. It is mainly an annotation device: something added to finished print, by hand.

When was the last time you saw underlines in a book that weren't added by a previous reader?

Underlines are bad typography that should be used sparingly, if ever.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse