Yes, but if it to look like you intended then the size of the tabstop is critical. I mean if you assume the tabstop is 2 characters and I view it with tabstops of 8 then the appearance is very different. Also you are assuming that you start the indentation with tabs and then extend it with spaces. Mixing tabs and spaces does not work.
I still think the easiest and most consistent is to always use spaces in the file and have a smart tab key which knows about indentation and goes to the right place.
