One space or 2?

[Dale]

Maybe you do it as at the end of this sentence. Or maybe you just put one space after a sentence. Either way, it's time for a vote.

And now I'm having a sinking feeling there's already been a poll on this sometime on C&F. But, no matter.

Dale

[Denny]

yeah, i seem to remember this pony trotting back an' forth at least once.

[Dale]

There's nothing left that hasn't be polled.

[I.D.10-t]

For some reason this poll reminds me of coin operated typewriters. Not happy thoughts.

[Innocent Bystander]

In Norn Iron we were always told "a space" at the end of a sentence, and that's the way I did it when I was typing. I only discovered the "two spaces" convention when I picked up a cheap typing course program. I can see the point depending on the font you use, and if it were a double-spaced manuscript. But my inclination would be to use one space.

[German Whistler]

One.

[ytliek]

I only use one space. Professional typograhers only use one space. In publishing lengthy manuscripts, using two spaces at end of sentences created "rivers of white" flowing thru the text, and could also effect the cost of publishing by increasing page lengths which increased paper, ink, production, etc. so it was avoided.

Typing using two spaces at end of sentences is a convention (to my understanding) used for short documents - letters - especially by secretaries and lawyers, and others without trying to place blame on anyone.

Professional typesetting has changed drastically since the individual PC, and even attitudes have changed somewhat to anything goes, any font, any size and such effecting legibility and readability. Typesetting is a lost art... or at least going extinct.

[Nanohedron]

I remember I was taught two spaces between sentences. I never typed all that much because I was more into handwriting but I'm pretty sure I did do the two-spaces thing back in the day on the rare occasion I actually did type because, after all, convention is culture (and despite my rather easy acceptance of such things as Shake 'N Bake, cheap shoes, TV reruns, and utility beer, I nevertheless like to think of myself as a reasonably cultured fellow - at least in the sense of knowing the value in being able to call my entire life a guilty pleasure).

But then came the 'Net, and everything changed. After agonising and wrestling with the conflict between the black-tie spruceness of convention and the jeans-&-flannel realities of form following function, I abjectly succumbed to the latter, lying down in the muck to separate my sentences with one space in humiliation and shame. It was horrible.

I still think about it sometimes, if you can call a millisecond's time "thinking".

[Denny]

kerning



nano .... milli
rather long then, innit?

[I.D.10-t]

I'm sure nano never cheated on a spelling test using an ink well.

[Nanohedron]

I'm sure nano never cheated on a spelling test using an ink well.

You know, I do actually have a dim memory from early grade school of those (including desks with recesses for them to prevent just such spillages, but we were out in the sticks and upgrades, including the money for it, came slow), and using dip-pens. But as I recall, using pens and ink from wells wasn't the norm, but more of just a passing intro to a dying skill because one never knew but you might need to use them again one day, so knowing which end was up was a Good Thing. After all, pencils might prove to be a flash in the pan, or at least be a luxury too far should everything come crashing down (or if we were less practical, one of us might be inspired to make a living as a calligrapher some day). I always wondered, in that spirit, why we weren't taught to properly make quill and reed pens, or even ink for that matter. A gaping hole in the concept, one might think. But then one might be taking food from penwrights' and inkmakers' children's mouths.

[chas]

. . . utility beer. . .

That's a great one! I've never heard it before, but I'll definitely be using it in the future. I definitely distinguish between the stuff I drink for volume and that which I drink for taste. I think my Christmas beer, which always makes its public debut at Thanksgiving, will be exceptional this year.

[Nanohedron]

. . . utility beer. . .

That's a great one! I've never heard it before, but I'll definitely be using it in the future. I definitely distinguish between the stuff I drink for volume and that which I drink for taste.

It definitely covers the necessary bases, doesn't it.

I'm not entirely sure if this is one I actually coined myself or if I got it from someone else. Either way it's caught on a tad and you occasionally hear it used around Minneapolis, to be sure. Part of my confusion about where I got it arises from the fact that usually I'm the one using it.

I think my Christmas beer, which always makes its public debut at Thanksgiving, will be exceptional this year.

And what delectable brew will you have for us?

nano .... milli
rather long then, innit?

For a nanobrain, yes, I suppose so. But the sentences in articulating one's thoughts are still very much humongously bigger, so your time's up pretty soon all the same.

[MTGuru]

Definitely one. Two spaces made sense on monospaced typewriters, to make it easier to see a separation between sentences. And I still double space on my typewriters (I have 3). But not when "keyboarding" (ugh, an ugly term). It was a conscious and deliberate change of habit.

[benhall.1]

I can't believe so many of you guys are doing it all WRONG!!! How can you possibly only use one space after a sentence?

I think this is one of the most important topics we've ever had on this forum. It's time the world rediscovered its humanity and stopped the ugly, barbaric practice of single spacing once and for all.