Wrong analogy. Why should I bother to differentiate between the length of a dash when the vast majority of readers don't have a clue what it means (and don't need it to determine meaning).

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oneeyedpigeon 31 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Because the impact of something can be felt even when the object doesn't appreciate they are feeling it. People choose fonts for the particular impact they will have on the reader, even though that reader won't think about it.

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WillAdams 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Because it looks better and is a guide to communication.

For the poster child of a naïvely set/composed text which suffers thereby see:

https://blog.lostartpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/vir...

That a book about a perfectly made tool cabinet suffers from so many typos (the maker's name, Henry, is mis-spelled on the inside cover) and such pedestrian composition embodies much of what went wrong when the typesetting unions all bargained for sinecures rather than active participation in the Desktop Publishing Revolution.

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anonthrownaway an hour ago | parent [-]

>Because it looks better and is a guide to communication.

Personally, I think em-dashes (when in a font that shows the damn difference) look exaggerated and silly. They certainly don't provide any important guidance to its meaning that I can't derive from context.

That was a cool toolbox BTW :)

	▲	WillAdams 32 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Some typographers agree and afford a 3/4s length em-dash. Yes, the Studley tool cabinet is amazing, which makes the infelicities of the book all the more enraging.