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Final news edits
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JustinMShea committed Feb 9, 2020
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31 changes: 18 additions & 13 deletions NEWS.md
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Expand Up @@ -14,19 +14,24 @@ While the vignette builder uses the `knitr` package, I was also loading the
`knitr` package to access the `kable` function for tables. Testing was going
fine, but then `knitr` inexplicably began throwing a variety of differing errors
across Linux and windows builds. This was due to package dependencies it couldn't
import, so removing calls to `knitr` function in the vignette was an an easy
place to reduce area of attack surface.

But more importantly, `knitr::kable`, while convenient, is a poor table function.
In my experience, tables remain an important device for graphic displays of
information. While knitr's html format appears clean at first,
closer inspection reveals the undesirable trait of fitting tables to full page
width regardless of the number of columns to display. On deeper reflection, I
this is a bug, as it produces the undersirable side effect of too much white
space between figures for the reader's eye to traverse.

Printing the raw output of an `xts` or `data.frame` keeps data columns compact allowing for easier comparison. The raw output also better communicate the table was created as a result of some computational process. Plus, in an increasingly sophisticed digital world of Ux, these raw outputs look increasingly computationally cool and clean, reminding us
of the scientific nature of our endevors.
import, so removing calls to `knitr` in the vignette was an an easy place to
begin reducing the area of an unknown attack surface. In the modern era,
regardless of cause or "hiccups", opportunities to reduce package attack surface
seems the most sense as systems grow more more complex and dependency sprawl grows.

Perhaps more importantly, the decision to remove `knitr::kable` from vignettes
was also an aesthetic one. In my experience, tables remain an important device
for graphic displays of information. While knitr's html format appears clean at
first, closer inspection reveals the undesirable trait of fitting tables to full
page width regardless of the number of columns to display. On deeper reflection,
I view this as a bug, as it produces the undesirable side effect of too much
white space for the reader's eye to traverse when comparing numbers across columns.

Printing the raw output of an `xts` or `data.frame` keeps data columns compact,
allowing for clearer visual comparison. The raw output also better communicate
the table was created as a result of some computational process. Plus, in an
increasingly sophisticated digital world of Ux, these raw outputs look increasingly, unique, computationally cool, and clean. They serve as a reminder of the objective
and scientific nature of our endeavors.


# neverhpfilter 0.3-0
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