Seems like s fairly poor argument, considering most development wouldn't/shouldn't happen in a web textarea. Also, it's trivial for web editors to solve this themselves - any that don't are just lazy.

I used to like tabs. Then you have a person or two with different tab widths, and some spaces get mixed in, and the beauty of the idea flies out of the window. I've been all spaces for a long time now.

Different tab widths are a non-issue. Sure, the maximum character per line only works for a set tab width, but I take that “problem” over the rigidity (and unsuitability) of spaces as indentation.

It becomes issue when mixed with spaces. Say, aligning function parameters on multiple rows. If the indentation of the second row of parameters is mainly with tabs, and then adjusted to place with spaces, it's suddenly a huge issue. And that will happen.

So spaces only for me, thanks.

Tabs for indent, spaces for alignment - solves the problem unless you're trying to align across indentation levels, but you probably shouldn't be.

I don't know about others but jsbin, codepen, and c9.io all have e.preventDefault on tab because it's trivial and many people still use tab.

I have never thought of that. Very good argument. By choosing spaces over tabs, we open up ways for contributors push code.