Are you a "two spacer"? - Page 2

My practical view: if we needed an extra wide space, we'd have one. As there are three dashes (hyphen, en dash, em dash), there would be, say, a space and an em space if such padding was necessary. To my knowledge there isn't, except as used for some mathematics tools.

Unicode spaces

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay H 

I strangely    find myself countingthe     spaces in   this thread.   :)

 

Jay

I strangely find myself reading this sentence aloud in a Christopher Walken voice...although William Shatner would work as well.
 

I used to be a two spacer but switched after doing some programming years ago. Wasn't that hard to make the switch.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keith Plucker 

Monospace font, two spaces after punctuation, with a proportional font one space is used. As far as I know, as long as proportional fonts have been around, this has always been the proper way to do it. The reason we were taught two spaces in typing class is because those typewriters used monospace lettering (I am 46 so I had those classes in my younger days myself).

 

Using two spaces after punctuation with a proportional font you end up what is sometimes called "rivers of white" on the page. Justification settings also cause this effect. Basically, while looking at the page, you can see a white "river" going down the page formed by the extra gaps.

 

However, it seems silly to me to criticize people that are not professional typographers/designers for not following professional standards especially in personal correspondence. The guy has basically written an over the top "link bait" style article. No sane person really cares about the number of spaces you are using.

 

-Keith

Finally someone posting here what my point would have been.

It was necessary with monospaced fonts. It's not necessary now, generally speaking.

No harm done either way as well.

Cees
 

I thought single space was for news papers and what not where page space is precious, and the two-spacer was for formal writing.  I'm a two-spacer having been taught it, and really, I'm more concerned with spelling/correct variations of words (there/their/they're) and other nitpicks that dyslexia throws up then I am with counting the spaces I use after a period ha ha. 

w shld jst skp vwls. :P

There are specific uses for the smaller spaces (hair, thin, figure) that regular folks might encounter. The larger ones (en, em, X per em) seem to exist only if you want to simulate hand-typeset material; no need for them with modern computer justification.

Two spaces are appropriate with monospace fonts like Courier (a carryover from the mechanical typewriter days) because it creates a visual break at the end of sentences where all letters and spaces use the same amount of space. With proportional fonts, the extra space doesn't impact readability, and therefore is not necessary.

AP, the MLA and desktop publishing guides all recommend a single space after periods in their style guides. If something is to be published, editors would have to strip out the extra space anyway, so you might as well skip it. Obviously, for informal correspondence, it doesn't really matter one way or the other, except for the extra keystroke.

Two spaces is a great general rule of thumb:

-After periods.

-In parking lots.

-At the movies.

-In public restrooms.

It's like a law of nature.  Slate can bite it.

Ricardo, I wholly disagree with your conclusion, but I applaud your reasoning!

I've always used two spaces after a period. I just stack them on top of each other to save room  .

Of all the arguments I've seen and considered over the years, this is one I never saw coming.  It never dawned on me that there was even another choice.

Born, bred, trained, and beaten into me since the dawn of the manual typewriter I am a 2 spacer and unlikely I'll ever be different -- like Morgan Freeman's

comment near the end of Shawshank about asking permission to take a leak.

Ricardo OTOH gives a great visual and belly filling laugh for best post of the thread.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keith Plucker 

Monospace font, two spaces after punctuation, with a proportional font one space is used. As far as I know, as long as proportional fonts have been around, this has always been the proper way to do it.

Not really.  A computer's "proportional font" does nothing but simulate a standard hand-set type face, in which the letters are all different widths.  Typewriters use letters all the same width because of mechanical limitations.  If you take a look at a good hand-set (or, indeed, Linotype) book, you will find that the spaces between sentences are about twice as broad as those between words, even where the absolute widths of the spaces vary from line to line (justification).

You cannot be hurt by following Fowler's Modern English Usage in default of other guides.  In addition to double-spacing after full stops, he employs a single-width space before a colon or semicolon, & a double-width space afterwards.  He also appears to use a single space after an open quotation mark, & before a close one, but I generally find this unnecessary.

Intersting thread. I guess I have been a one spacer for as long as I can remember.