Tom Lane wrote: > "David G. Johnston" <david.g.johnston@gmail.com> writes: > >If I was going to try and read it like a book I'd want the extra > > white-space to make doing so easier (white-space gives the eye a breather > > when done with a particular concept) - and the length wouldn't really > > matter since I'd just make a single pass and be done with it. But the > > planned usage is for quick lookup of options that you know (or at least > > suspect) exist and which you probably have an approximate idea of how they > > are spelled. The all-caps and left-justified block headers are distinct > > enough to scan down - though I'd consider indenting 4 spaces instead of 2 > > to make that even easier (less effort to ignore the indented lines since > > ignoring nothing is easier than ignoring something). Having more fit on > > one screen makes that vertical skimming considerably easier as well (no > > break and re-acquire when scrolling in a new page). > > Hmm, indenting the descriptions a couple more spaces might be a workable > compromise. Anyone want to try that and see what it looks like? > Preferably somebody who's not happy with the current layout ;-)
I have to admit that adding two spaces makes it look a lot more acceptable to me.
I did some tests now, and when the name of variable is a upper case string, then are acceptable (although with empty line space it is better).
for pset variables (is lower case), then reading is not too friendly still.
Sure - four spaces is better than two - but readability is not good.
There can be another reason of feeling vertical spaces - the size of chars. I am using probably small fonts - I am using X windows and my typical terminal windows is half of screen (I have T520 Lenovo) about 60 rows and 120 columns.
(I'd tweak the description of PSQL_EDITOR_LINENUMBER_ARG by replacing "how to" with "mechanism to" while at it, by the way. It took me a while to understand what it was and I first thought the description was completely bogus.)