Template talk:Break lines

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Line-wrapping with indentation[edit]

Hi Grufo—I just found this new-ish template of yours, and I am wondering if it would be possible to add a feature that would apply intuitive formatting lines that wrap. Conventionally, if a line in a poem is too long for the available space, it wraps with a hanging indent (i.e., the continuation of the line after it wraps begins inward from the margin). This condition doesn’t arise all that often on Wikipedia, but one example is in this side-by-side comparison of translations of a prayer, where the narrow columns force line-wrapping.

Frustratingly, properly formatted line-wrapping is not a feature supported by <poem> or even by {{poem quote}}. In my search for available solutions, I found surprisingly little discussion of the matter, and what I did find was sometimes so old, like this 2010 discussion at the tech pump, that current relevance is dubious. My sense is that seeking any change to the MediaWiki extension would be unfruitful or at least painfully slow, and the quote template comes with enough indentation/spacing baggage that I don’t even want to seek a solution there, so your template seems like a unique opportunity. Does this feature I’m describing seem feasible, and would it be something you’d be willing to invest time creating?

In case it helps clarify things, I think the HTML code to apply would be something like <div style="padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;">. Take that with a grain of salt because I may be failing to anticipate some technical complication, but design-wise I selected 3 em because that’s double the 1.5 em indentation created by : and thus neatly distinguishable from it.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts. jameslucas ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ 19:52, 1 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Hi James. Yes, it is possible and you found the solution: I have created a stub at {{Poetically break lines}} (same usage of {{Break lines}} but without support for the |doublet= argument). Could you please write its documentation (I am in a hurry now)? --Grufo (talk) 20:15, 1 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
That seems more than fair, Grufo. I will test-drive and document ASAP−tomorrow if I can’t get to it tonight. Thank you! jameslucas ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ 22:32, 1 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you. See how Old High German § Example texts looks now. --Grufo (talk) 22:34, 1 July 2023 (UTC)[reply]