I’m a big fan of vertical whitespace, and find it strange that more fuss is made of tabs vs spaces (which doesn’t really affect readability) than vertical spacing (which does).
Here’s a simple code example, randomly picked:
$max_width = intval( get_option( 'thumbnail_size_w' ) );
$max_height = intval( get_option( 'thumbnail_size_h' ) );
// last chance thumbnail size defaults
if ( ! $max_width && ! $max_height ) {
$max_width = 128;
$max_height = 96;
}
Compared to:
$max_width = intval( get_option( 'thumbnail_size_w' ) );
$max_height = intval( get_option( 'thumbnail_size_h' ) );
// last chance thumbnail size defaults
if ( ! $max_width && ! $max_height ) {
$max_width = 128;
$max_height = 96;
}
That single extra line makes such a difference when scanning code. Imagine trying to read a book with no paragraphs.
John's Blog 
2 responses to “The need for whitespace”
Hmm you have a decent point here John, However I am obsessive about website speed and optimizing, yep when coding a site its good but after I have finished testing it I obsessively compress everything.
Have just stumbled on your blog as was just searching for similar domains to mine.
Best,
Phillip
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There’s a difference between source code and minified code, though. No one is reading your minified code.
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