Questions about ``` lines

[Katarina Eriksson]

Hello Geminauts

1. Are ``` lines to be block markers or mode switches?

>From the discussions on the the list, it seems like they are block markers.
The current spec calls them "toggle lines" that toggle "pre-formatted mode
being on or off" which suggests it's a mode switch.

The way I interpret the difference between the two is that blocks need to
close before end-of-file to be valid and in the other case the file can end
in any mode.

This might be splitting hairs but I want this to be clear.

2. Is it desirable to close the window of extensibility?

When reading the archives, I noticed that ``` lines used to only work if
they had no trailing characters. This was changed to be less surprising
when someone writes
    ```python
as if it was a markdown code block.

There is a discussion in another thread to use this space for alternative
text when entering pre-formatted mode but I have other extensions on my
mind. These extensions I will show you are not proposals I want to see.

    ``` Visual browsers will
    ``` not display these lines.
    ``` So as long as there are
    ``` an even number of them,
    ``` I can get away with using
    ``` them as comment lines.

Someone could also construct a browser that embeds media files with a
fallback to a link for other browsers:

    ``` @embed image/png
    ``` width=300 height=200
    => path/to/image.png Alt. text

I don't think we need to close this window, but I also don't see a need to
allow consecutive ``` lines.

These are real questions with added context and not opinions or rhetoric
dressed as questions.

-- 
Katarina
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.orbitalfox.eu/archives/gemini/attachments/20200521/e1bb4cae/attachment.htm>