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Re: Single Spacing, Double Spacing, and Doing It Ones Own Way
Subject:Re: Single Spacing, Double Spacing, and Doing It Ones Own Way From:Susan W. Gallagher <sgallagher5 -at- cox -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 10 May 2004 15:51:13 -0400
I honestly believe that I am in the minority -- and it may
even be a minority of one -- because I really don't care one
way or the other.
I was trained to use two spaces -- and I can still see the
use for two spaces. But I transitioned to one space more
than 10 years ago to conform to a corporate style guide and
for the life of me cannot be bothered to train myself back.
If I receive editing work from other departments that have
two spaces after a sentence, I leave it that way. Altho,
truthfully, most of those docs are from people who don't
have non-printing chars turned on, so they often have
anywhere from two to five spaces after a sentence. I pare it
down to two and leave it that way.
> Plus, isn't it possible that if an automatic line break happens after the
> first space, the next line will start with the second space, so the line
> will be indented slightly?
>
I haven't seen software this stupid since the Enable suite
that the government was so fond of back in the 1980s - and
that dog would even wrap a single space if it didn't fit
within the margins. So, no, that's not a valid argument.
As a hiring manager, this isn't something that I look at,
even fleetingly. I generally have much greater concerns.
Once writers are hired, I'd expect them to conform to the
corporate style guide in this and all other matters. And
the style guide is a living document, so if they feel
strongly about an issue, they can campaign to change it.
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