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Elastic tabstops (Beware: behind this link lurks a java applet) are an idea by Nick Gravgaard.

In short, “elastic tabstops” are a smart algorithm which allows you to let the editor care about indenting instead of you and ends the tabs/spaces debate. Try the aforementioned applet on the linked page to see how it works.

Why we need it? Because it is a method to end the hassle of manual realignment and configuration-induced ugliness (tab width)

Steps to implement:

1. implement a option which changes the behavior of the option “align dynamically wrapped lines to the indentation level” to “align dynamically wrapped lines to the last tabstop”
   
2. implement an option for eleastic tabstops and combine it with the above option

(i could not think of a way to break it into smaller steps)