Comments on: Why You Should Put One Space After a Period, not Two

By: Marti

Marti — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:16:31 +0000

Anyone who does professional desktop publishing will tell you that not only is one space preferred, but it’s almost essential. Check this out: http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/typespacing/a/onetwospaces.htm

By: Plinko

Plinko — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:34:03 +0000

It’s updated.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_spacing_at_the_end_of_sentences

By: katzenfinch

katzenfinch — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:18:58 +0000

I too learned to use two spaces after a sentence in typing class (Joe Drescher, Pike High School, 1966). That changed when I started using the computerized typesetting machine (a Compugraphic Comp IV, for those who remember such things) at the IUPUI Sagamore eleven years later. The difference, as you note, was proportional spacing — typewriters don’t have it, the Comp IV did.

Apparently I am pretty passionate about the single space – one of my standard routines when preparing other people’s copy for publication is to run a search-and-replace for double spaces at least two times, and more if necessary.

By: Patrick Sullivan

Patrick Sullivan — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:58:40 +0000

I’m a two-space guy just out of force of habit. When I did all my grad school work it was the convention but then, for the most part, so were typewriters. I can even remember when some departments wouldn’t permit a dissertation to be printed out from a computer on a printer with “letter quality” print. I’ve just been doing the two space thing for so long that it feels like typo if I don’t use it. Other than that, I’m not especially passionate about it.

By: asudduth

asudduth — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:42:26 +0000

Interesting… I don’t purposely type two spaces, but almost everytime I’m trying to shave a few characters off of a tweet I end up deleting a space after a period… not sure how they get there!;)

By: Barbara

Barbara — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:13:16 +0000

My typing skills (honed at North Central in 1962) earned me considrable income in my youth, and I always put two spaces after a period. I was a fast and accurate typist. Nowadays, I use a single space when using my phone’s keypad, but I still put two when typing on a conventional keyboard. Go figure. And isn’t it interesting that the French insert a space BEFORE a question mark or exclamation point. I’ve never understood that. Then again, I’ve never researched the issue, either.

By: Matthew Schantz

Matthew Schantz — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:12:33 +0000

I’ve been a two-spacer out of allegiance to my own Typing I teacher, but (coincidentally) for about a month now I’ve been retraining my own hands and my assistant to use one for all of the reasons that you and CMOS give. Sometimes those spaces mean an extra page, which might run a document past a court’s page limit or over a fee threshold set by the Patent Office. One space it is.
~~Matt

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:01:30 +0000

Social comments and analytics for this post…

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By: Julie

Julie — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:53:27 +0000

Best read of the day!