Re: lynx-dev screen widths

[dickey]

> 
>  
> Hi Phil, 
>  
> On Fri, 16 Apr 1999 06:49:21 -0400 (EDT) Philip Webb  
> <address@hidden> wrote: 
>  
> > anything wider than c 80 chars is likely to be hard on R -> L eye movement, 
> Just for the sake of information is that 80 chars or 80  
> 'chars width' .. The reason I ask is that I use  
> SvgaTM @ 132x25 (humm ... does that explain my eyes?)  
> anyhow I haven't seemed to notice any difficulties in  
> reading (and I tend to read almost everything in html,  
> these days)  

ordinary (typeset) text runs more than 80 columns, e.g., in a book.

newsprint runs shorter.

(I could cite numbers, but people will argue)
  
80 columns simply happens to correspond to punchcards (because programs
were developed on punchcards, the video terminals that were developed
to replace them had 80 columns, except for the less common ones used
for replacing point-of-sale terminals aka cash registers - those are
commonly 40 columns).

-- let's not confuse cause (historical legacy) with effect (relative ease of 
use)

> Jonathan Lawson 

-- 
Thomas E. Dickey
address@hidden
http://www.clark.net/pub/dickey