I noticed my blog postings only had 1 space after each and every sentence. No problem, I edit my most recent post and insert 2 spaces after each period. Click save and done. A quick double check and; 1 SPACE AFTER EACH SENTENCE. What the heck?!?!? I learned long ago in typing class to always put 2 spaces after each period.
Turns out I was taught wrong. Make that, I didn’t learn the whole story. I did a bit of research on the internet (remember, everything you read on the internet is true), and low and behold, 1 space after a sentence ending period is perfectly acceptable. In fact, it is standard practice when using a proportionally spaced font.
The rule of thumb: If you are using a mono-spaced font, double spacing after a period is OK. If you are using a proportionally spaced font, 1 space after a period is standard.
Standard web content (using HTML) will never add a second space after a period unless you explicitly code one.
To Illustrate:
This is a mono-spaced font. Using 2 spaces after a period is preferred.
This is a proportional spaced font. Using 1 space after a period is perfectly acceptable.
If you are interested in more details on this (seemingly silly) topic, check out:
5 comments:
Silly stuff! As a graphic designer, I spent HOURS removing that extra space from others' content. I can't believe that keyboarding teachers are still teaching it, but they must be since the practice is so widespread. That extra space was never used when setting real type; it was only added to make typewriting more readable during the relatively short life-span of the typewriter.
Personally, 2 spaces after a period in a mono-spaced font looks ridiculous.
I recently ran across this topic when proofreading my 8th-grader's homework. She had typed it, in Times New Roman, and only used the one space after each period. When questioned, she produced the writing guidelines from her teacher, which contained the mono-spaced vs. proportional font rules. I still use 2 spaces after each period. That's old-school.
Put in all the spaces you want. Unless you specify "preformatted" using an HTML tag or CSS, your browser will collapse all the whitespace down to a single space.
As an undergraduate journalism student, we were broken of "period-space-space" habit with the story that newspapers don't use the space so they can fit more copy. I've used one space ever since.
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