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Points are a weird and inconsistent unit of measure

82 points by danborn26

by djoldman

1 subcomments

Not to support or attack the rationale behind the css or html standards but these have exact real world SI unit meanings:

   CSS  |                    | Exact Size | Exact Size    
   Unit | Name               | (Inches)   | (Millimeters) 
  --------------------------------------------------------
   cm   | Centimeter         | 50/127     | 10            
   mm   | Millimeter         | 5/127      | 1             
   Q    | Quarter-millimeter | 5/508      | 1/4           
   in   | Inch               | 1          | 127/5         
   pc   | Pica               | 1/6        | 127/30        
   pt   | Point              | 1/72       | 127/360       
   px   | Pixel              | 1/96       | 127/480

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inch

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millimetre

https://www.w3.org/TR/css-values-3/#absolute-lengths

by efitz

0 subcomment

Well that there is your problem, LaTeX is using imperial points, and Inkscape is using metric points.
You need to start using SI points that are defined using wavelengths of ground state emissions of a decaying Americium atom.

by cheschire

1 subcomments

EMUs always seemed weirder to me. Like an unnecessary compromise instead of just using metric outright.
https://startbigthinksmall.wordpress.com/2010/01/04/points-i...

by masfuerte

0 subcomment

FWIW, early 1980s Epson dot-matrix printers vertically spaced the dots in the print head exactly 1/72" apart, though I don't remember them calling the distance a point.

by tariky

10 subcomments

As someone from european continent. Those US measurements units look and feel so hard to work with.
Instead metric system is predictable and easy to work with.
Real question is why US just don't move to metric system?

by PopAlongKid

2 subcomments

From the title I thought this was going to be about basis points, as used in finance. (A basis point is one hundredth of 1 percentage point).

by zetanor

2 subcomments

That's why my favorite unit is the px, a.k.a., 1 centiinch.

by ivolimmen

0 subcomment

This is why Microsoft access had twips

by endofreach

1 subcomments

I don't know what happened in my brain but i expected a piece about points as in keeping scores. Maybe about how we evolved from binary results (alive/dead in early human competitions) to more complex systems. I'd say humans played games long before being able to count. Of course competition is inherent to human nature. But i'd say, without getting into any philosophical debate, a certain amount of compassion and empathy is as well. Which must have resulted in early ideas of fairness. Especially when respect and status seem to be crucial to society.
So, how and when did points come into play? ...
Well, ok. I stop procrastinating for now (i hope). I hate my brain.

by My_Name

0 subcomment

Here was me thinking it was about getting points on HN

by agus4nas

0 subcomment

taht`s perfect 4 europeans

by WillAdams

1 subcomments

TLDR; folks should just use PostScript (Big) Points.
The mention of
https://frinklang.org/
is kind of interesting --- hadn't heard of it before --- may need to revisit the "ProportionBar" tool which I made ages ago....

by yhdf

0 subcomment

[dead]

by dsevil

1 subcomments

Just posted the following poorly-fleshed-out comment there:
So disappointed that this document, as much as it obsesses over obscure physical quantities no one cares about, makes no mention of THE FUCK.
1 fuck is equal to the amount of concern you have about something below which you cannot achieve without having no concern at all, as which giving "zero fucks" is defined. "Absolute zero fucks" would be the formal terminology.
For preliminary purposes, we can assume 1 fuck = 1 shit = 1 damn, but must account for the possible existence of a big-point-vs-printers-point style situation. Also they could be drastically different, like if 1 shit given about global warming would be equivalent to 299_792_458 fucks or something like that.
I have very little knowledge about the *real* machinations behind the standardization of measures (a tinfoil conspiracy kook would call it an Agenda 21, or 21 Agendas One, but I'm not going there), I want this to be discussed.