(Since it's lunch time and I have a few minutes to venture even further OT...)

I'm guessing, but you're also probably assuming that the font used in the editor is fixed-width. You may need to check that assumption, especially if you're going to try to "impose" any standard (on others or yourself). The editor in one IDE I commonly work with (IBM Visual Age Smalltalk) defaults to using a variable-width font (configurable, thank goodness), which can really make things look bizarre.