Line wrapping in HTML-like files #11108

damithc · 2021-04-13T15:34:01Z

damithc
Apr 13, 2021
Maintainer

I guess we are not using line wrapping in HTML-like files. IIRC, we had good reasons for doing so (e.g., to reduce 'blast radius' when updating the content later). Line length is not normally a problem when using an IDE as IDEs can do soft-wrapping of lines.

But it does makes PR reviews a pain. e.g., #11049 Try reviewing instructor-help-page.module.ts and you'll see what I mean.
e.g., scroll right to read the line, then scroll down to find the horizontal scroll bar, then scroll left, then scroll up to find the location where I need to click the + button, and now I can't find which line I was reading in the first place!

wkurniawan07 · 2021-04-19T00:58:39Z

wkurniawan07
Apr 19, 2021
Maintainer

Blast radius is the reason for deprecating custom indentation rule, not line-wrapping HTML or any other language. Line-wrapping is generally favored for any language except when circumstances do not allow (e.g. hyperlinks cannot be line-wrapped no matter how long).

2 replies

damithc Apr 23, 2021
Maintainer Author

The blast radius problem can affect paragraph text content, which can appear in HTML files (and also other text files such as *.md files).

Consider this:

<body>
    A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in
    flowering plants (plants of the division Magnoliophyta, also called angiosperms). The
    biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism
    for the union of sperm with eggs. Flowers may facilitate outcrossing (fusion of sperm and
    eggs from different individuals in a population) resulting from cross pollination or allow
    selfing (fusion of sperm and egg from the same flower) when self pollination occurs.
</body>

Adding a few words to the first sentence will require every line of the paragraph to be adjusted for length, increasing the blast radius unnecessarily.

A workaround could be to also line break at sentence boundaries, in addition to within sentences.

<body>
    A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in
    flowering plants (plants of the division Magnoliophyta, also called angiosperms).
    The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism
    for the union of sperm with eggs.
    Flowers may facilitate outcrossing (fusion of sperm and eggs from different individuals
    in a population) resulting from cross pollination or allow selfing (fusion of sperm and egg
    from the same flower) when self pollination occurs.
</body>

Now, only the first two lines need to change when updating the first sentence.
As HTML ignores line breaks anyway, the output will still appear as a paragraph.

wkurniawan07 Apr 23, 2021
Maintainer

[Adding a few words to the first sentence] [will require every line of the paragraph to be adjusted for length]

The second part is not a logical conclusion to the first part unless we make it a rule, i.e. we create our own problem of line length restriction. It is not a problem due to the text nature of HTML. Consider:

String abc = something + somethingElse0 + somethingElse1 + somethingElse2
        + somethingElse3 + somethingElse4 + somethingElse5 + somethingElse6
        + somethingElse7 + somethingElse8 + somethingElse9 + somethingElse10;

If we add somethingElse1_1 between somethingElse1 and somethingElse2, the same problem will happen.

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Line wrapping in HTML-like files #11108

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Line wrapping in HTML-like files #11108

damithc Apr 13, 2021 Maintainer

Replies: 1 comment · 2 replies

wkurniawan07 Apr 19, 2021 Maintainer

damithc Apr 23, 2021 Maintainer Author

wkurniawan07 Apr 23, 2021 Maintainer

damithc
Apr 13, 2021
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Replies: 1 comment 2 replies

wkurniawan07
Apr 19, 2021
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damithc Apr 23, 2021
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wkurniawan07 Apr 23, 2021
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