The image shown is a dude with a browser dev console, probably measuring a div for the its CSS size (which do support centimeters and inches).
In python, 4 spaces is just enough spacing between indent levels. And if your levels get too deep it's a sign that you're not being pythonic. Nesting too deep is the problem, not the whitespacing being significant.
Python are fine with whatever number of spaces you want to use. You can use 8 spaces which forces you carefully consider each nest, you can use 1 if you're a monster, or you can use tabs if you're enlightened, python only demands consistency.
Yeah I remember picking up a script after a reinstall, and gedit had reverted to default settings. It's fun trying to spot whether it's 1 tab or 4 spaces. After that day, I switched to two spaces as my default.
All theese indentation issues arises from using spaces instead of tabs. And tabs are really flexible so that everyone can set their text editor to whatever tab length they want and still be consistant
I normally love tabs and it's what Go uses both by convention and it's semi opinionated formatter. But PEP-8 suggests spaces and ultimately, consistency is more important.
Not having to argue about tabs vs spaces lets us focus on the real problems, like vim vs emacs.
I am aware but don't know why four spaces is suggested. Tabs are consistant and flexible. Using spaces might cause errors in number of spaces and makes code messy.