[a1369209993]

  > But if that sentence runs over e.g. 80 characters,
  >  you still need to decide
  >  whether you're going to hard wrap or soft wrap that sentence.

No I don't. Semantic wrapping all the way.

[MrJohz]

    > This is a sentence that includes the word "Lopado­temacho­selacho­galeo­kranio­leipsano­drim­hypo­trimmato­silphio­karabo­melito­katakechy­meno­kichl­epi­kossypho­phatto­perister­alektryon­opte­kephallio­kigklo­peleio­lagoio­siraio­baphe­tragano­pterygon" in it. 
    > How should it be wrapped semantically?

This is a psychological case to demonstrate how semantic wrapping does not by itself solve the "hard vs soft" wrapping question. If the answer is that the word should remain as a single word, then you are using soft wraps (or no wraps at all). If the answer is that the word should be split into 80 character chunks, then you're using hard wraps.

[a1369209993]

> How should it be wrapped semantically?

I have no idea what the semantics of that word are, which is information that is required in order to properly semantically wrap it. (Inherently, since conveying such semantics is one of the major pointer of semantic wrapping.)

However, you included embedded control characters (C2 AD aka 'SOFT HYPHEN'; below replaced with '-') that encode less semantic information than is necessary for proper semantic wrapping, but not none:

Lopado-temacho-selacho-galeo-kranio-leipsano-drim-hypo-trimmato-silphio-karabo-melito-katakechy-meno-kichl-epi-kossypho-phatto-perister-alektryon-opte-kephallio-kigklo-peleio-lagoio-siraio-baphe-tragano-pterygon.

Web browsers use that information to do poor-quality semantic wrapping automatically - actual hard or soft[0] wrapping would produce something like:

  Lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsanod-
  rimhypotrimmatosilphiokarabomelitokatake-
  chymenokichlepikossyphophattoperisterale-
  ktryonoptekephalliokigklopeleiolagoiosir-
  aiobaphetraganopterygon.

Which looks like the following from a partly-semanically-aware perspective:

Lopado-temacho-selacho-galeo-kranio-leipsano-d[BREAK]rim-hypo-trimmato-silphio-karabo-melito-katake[BREAK]chy-meno-kichl-epi-kossypho-phatto-perister-ale[BREAK]ktryon-opte-kephallio-kigklo-peleio-lagoio-sir[BREAK]aio-baphe-tragano-pterygon.

The fact that you included soft hyphens rather concedes the point that hard and soft[0] wrapping is incorrect[1].

0: Or rather, non-semantic, which is what we're actually arguing over. Technically, semantic wrapping is a subset of hard wrapping, but it's a specific subset that isn't what is expressed by just saying "hard wrapping". Kind of like how birds aren't what anyone means when they just say "dinosaurs".

1: Granted, to be fair, a lot of the time we just don't care. But (contra your original comment) we never need to resort to non-semantic wrapping; we just sometimes (often) decide to be lazy because it doesn't matter.