None of your examples pose a fundamental problem for tab-indentation; here's the basics how it should (always) be done, and works, and never breaks anything reg

None of your examples pose a fundamental problem for tab-indentation; here's the basics how it should (always) be done, and works, and never breaks anything regardless of the width of the tab character as long as you don't break the gist (which is the hard part, especially with editors which sometimes work against you): def send_mail(source) TABMailer.deliver(to: 'bob@example.com', TAB from: 'us@example.com', TAB subject: 'Important message', TAB body: source.text) end Here, TAB has a width of three but of course the alignment would stay put even if it were wider or narrower.