Re: [Groff] rationale for italic correction mechanism?

[Robert Thorsby]

On 10/11/13 09:53:23, Dave Kemper wrote:
> This reminds me of another question I'd wanted to ask about groff's  
> italic-correction escapes.
>
> Why are these escapes something that a user must insert manually,  
> rather than groff handling italic corrections automatically?  It is  
> hard to imagine a case where the user would prefer that italic and  
> Roman characters overlap at the transition.  And it seems to me that  
> groff's default behavior ought to be to produce good typesetting, and  
> require user intervention if the user wants ugly results, rather than  
> the way it currently works, which is the exact opposite.

I am very glad that groff does *not* impose too many pre-conceived  
ideas of typographical correctness on its users. In fact, this was the  
reason I changed from LyX to groff -- the Chicago Manual is good enough  
for us so it is good enough for you; no thanks.

Here in Australia I use two style manuals. The most modern, produced by  
the Federal Government, is a triumph of style over substance and is a  
monument to everything bad in typography. I keep it as a reminder that  
prettiness is not always correct.

The other is a musty old tome written a half-century ago, in the days  
of hot type, by the State Government Printer. This is my Bible for it  
not only tells me How it also tells me Why. It does not always agree  
with US or UK manuals, even though there are certain similarities in  
the three languages.

I want the typography that *I* set, not someone else's. If the price of  
this freedom is more manual intervention then it is a price I shall  
gladly pay.

Robert
Tell the truth and run. -- Yugoslav proverb