WordPress.org

1. carlos321
   Member
   Posted 6 months ago #

   Hi everyone,

   Wordpress appears to be a very good blogging platform but I CAN'T STAND the 8 spaces per tab that Wordpress uses in it's built-in editor. I HATE 8 space tabs so much that I am thinking of giving up Wordpress altogether and using another blogging platform if I can't rid of them.

   Is there ANY way to get rid of 8 space tabs?? For the life of me I can't see how anyone can read html, css, or otherwise with 8 spaces per tab. 2,3 or even 4 yeah but 8?

   Any suggestions would be appreciated.

   Thanks.

   Carlos

   PS. Yes...I have Google and Googled and searched the forums and nothing.

2. mfields
   Member
   Posted 6 months ago #

   Hmmm... interesting question.

   I did a google search and it appears that there is no solution to this problem. Please read the following forum threads:

   http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1115214
   http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t161740-tab-size-in-a-textarea.html
   http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum21/9578.htm
   http://www.codingforums.com/archive/index.php/t-152775.html
   http://www.killersites.com/mvnforum/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=12966
   http://www.openbluhost.com/html/14318-tab-size-textarea

   This is not so much a WordPress problem as it is a basic html issue. WordPress opens and prints the contents of each theme file into a textarea element. The tab size of that element seems to be dependent upon your web browser. In all my experience with css I have never come across a property that allows for the tab size to be altered.

   If this problem was bothering me, I would do the following:

   Download your theme and use a text editor to find and replace all tabs with double spaces in every file and then upload it to your server.

   best of luck,
   -Mike

3. carlos321
   Member
   Posted 6 months ago #

   Thanks for the links Mike but this problem has nothing to do with tabs in pre or textarea html. It's not just Wordpress. Every time I view the source of a web page in Firefox...the source code shows up indented 8 spaces for every Tab. Textpattern, a CMS like Drupal...same thing. Their files show up with 8 spaces per tab.

   This is insane. I can't believe people are actually content reading code with 8 spaces per tab. It's enough for me to want to give up the Internet I tell you!

   And every time I try and Google about this problem I get a bunch of web pages in the results that talk up tabs (not the 8 space tabs but the tabs that appears for every page one opens). A most frustrating thing.

   I think if I ever solve this I am going to create a niche web site and sell a tutorial on how to overcome 8 space tabs such that I will get rich.

   This thread alone made it to the top of a Google search on 8 space tabs! That's how little there is on this on the Internet.

   Thanks again Mike but this it's hopeless. I must either learn to wade through 8 space tabs or...well...I don't know or what.

   Carlos

4. carlos321
   Member
   Posted 6 months ago #

   Goodness gracious. Even the line spacing on this thread is crazy. It's so far apart that my brain has a hard time reading through it :). It's certainly not standard text line spacing per a normal web page.

   It's like there is almost the same line spacing between sentences as there are between paragraphs such that the distinction between sentences in a paragraph and other paragraphs is blurred.

   Sigh....

   Carlos

5. mfields
   Member
   Posted 6 months ago #

   Just copy and paste the source into a text editor where you control the tab settings - a good editor will have settings allowing you to alter the size of the tabs...

6. zabonk
   Member
   Posted 5 months ago #

   I know this is a little late, but just in case anyone is still interested, i've just found a freeware text editor that allows tabs to be altered instantly.

   It's called EditPad Lite.

   Once you have it, go to 'options'-'Config file types...'-'Editor Options'.
   At the bottom of the window you'll see 'Tab size in spaces'.

   This is the first text editor i've found that actually does alter tab indentation in text files.

   Here's the link:

7. zabonk
   Member
   Posted 5 months ago #

   Okay the link doesn't seem to have appeared.
   It's here:

   http://www.editpadpro.com/editpadlite.html

   Just cut and paste it.
   Good luck.

8. zabonk
   Member
   Posted 5 months ago #

   Hah!

   Oh now it works....

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