Re: centered tables

[Werner LEMBERG]

> > You get "`a'" in the TeX output; the "`" character in an italic
> > font, the "a" in an upright typesetter font, and a final "'" again
> > in italics.
> 
> That's what I thought you get.  And that's what I'd expect: the quotes
> aren't typeset in the fixed-width font, exactly as when the
> surrounding text is in roman.  The quotes are typeset in the same font
> as the surrounding text.

Sorry to say, but *I* don't expect this.  I expect _italic_
fixed-width font.  This is what you would get in LaTeX 2e.  The
current solution in texinfo is, speaking with the typographer's hat,
bad.

> >  And there is no italic correction between "`" and "a".  This
> > looks really strange.
> 
> If the results look ugly, perhaps texinfo.tex should allow some
> mini-spacing between the quotes and the body of @samp.  But I'd
> expect TeX itself to do that: isn't this exactly a job of a
> typesetting program?

Dear Eli, TeX does a good job, but it isn't a prophet.  The italic
correction (`\/') must be inserted by a properly designed macro.

The basic question is: Should @samp be stronger than @i? If not, the
quotes and the identifier in @samp look better if they are *both*
written with italic shapes.  Otherwise, not only the identifier but
the quotes also should be written with an upright shape.


    Werner