I came across this chapter a while ago, and I enjoyed the argumentation quite a lot. I think the Vertical Alignment idea applies to all sorts of code, not just Perl code.
I am personally a follower of the Vertical Alignment sect, although I think, that should be the main stream.
“The other day” I came across code not following the Vertical Aligment idea, and I was rather sad (“in a professional sense”). But I am rather aware of the different streams resp. sects, and of course, this is not meant as an insult but rather just a note.