Subject: bug#20721: 25.0.50; Review default settings of Info-quoted face (Requires > texinfo-5 ???)

From: Drew Adams <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 2 Jun 2015 09:30:11 -0700 (PDT)

> This report pertains to following snippets from info.el.
>   (defface Info-quoted
>       '((t :family "courier"))
>       "Face used for quoted elements.")
>   (defvar Info-mode-font-lock-keywords
>     '(("‘\\([^’]*\\)’" (1 'Info-quoted))))
> 
> Summary: I want the Info buffer to be colorized, so that I have
> enough visual clues to skim it quickly.  I find the Emacs provided
> default VERY disconcerting.

FWIW/FYI -

Since 1996, my code (info+.el [1]) does this.  (I offered this
several times to Emacs, but there was no interest.)  By default,
the highlighting is turned on and is noticeable.  The face I use
for this is named `info-quoted-name' (lowercase).

Similarly, double-quoted text ("...") is highlighted with face
`info-string'; angle-bracketed text (<...>) is highlighted with
face `info-quoted-name' (i.e., same as `...'); and isolated
single-quote marks (') are highlighted with face `info-single-quote'.

Each such highlighting is optional, controlled by a user option,
and can be toggled on/off anytime.

To accommodate TexInfo 5, info+.el also uses `info-quoted-name'
to highlight ‘...’.

[1] http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/InfoPlus

---

Wrt using ‘...’ instead of `...', by default: I disagree.
I think this is a *bad* convention - misguided.

The use of `...' is *not* quotation in the ordinary sense, and
no ordinary quotation convention should be used for it, as that
introduces confusion with normal text quoting (not to mention
difficulties for using ordinary keyboards, searching, etc.).

Emacs uses `...' to set off *inline code*.  In other documentation
contexts this is more typically handled by markup tags such as
<code> or <CodeInline>.  And it is typically rendered using a
different font (usually monospaced, since the surrounding doc
context is usually not monospaced).

Emacs needs something that, just like what is used by other doc
systems, is not confusable with ordinary text quotation.  But
Emacs also needs something that is easy to type and search for
directly in the "rendered" output.  For the latter reason,
ordinary markup is not the best approach.

The use of `...' for inline code by Emacs is in fact an elegant,
clever, and handy invention.

It is unfortunate that Emacs (and TexInfo) has now gone down a
rabbit hole in the direction of using curly quotes for inline
code.  That some find `...' ugly or old-fashioned seems to have
trumped the good sense that is behind its design.

You will find curly quotes used everywhere in the wider world.
And I'm all in favor of it!  What you will *NOT* find is curly
quotes being used to designate inline code, i.e., to distinguish
it from surrounding ordinary text.  It is *that* use of curly
quotes that I think is misguided.

`...' for inline code should in fact be something for Emacs to
be proud of, not something to toss in the cellar or to paper
over.

Just one opinion.  Check back in another 20 years...