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Thanks for the comments about period-space-space vs.
period-space.
The answers you sent matched my expectations.
Single space Space space
13 3
Most of the respondents admitted that they had to break themselves
of the habit fairly recently. Someone mentioned that students
are now taught to use one space when learning to keyboard. Nobody
gave a verifiable reference, although I'm sure there are some.
Other comments:
* Proportional fonts make the space after a period longer,
so you only need one space.
* Some word processors and page layout programs (Frame and Word)
have "Smart Spaces," which corrects the habit for you. (I am
currently using PageMaker, and I don't think it has Smart Spaces.)
* You can search and replace ". " for ". ". (I intentionally put
this period outside the quotation mark.)
* "It did take some getting used to." (The typing or the reading?)
* Someone mentioned that for online documentation, you are still
supposed to use 2 spaces for readability. (Really!?)
This last comment makes me wonder the following:
>>>>> Has there been any readability studies on whether single
spacing bothers the reader?
>>>>> Is the "fact" that proportional fonts compensate and put
a longer space after periods true for all proportional fonts?
all programs?
The few persons who still use 2 spaces said that single spacing didn't
look right to them.
BTW, I am going to change it in the document, probably by a global
search and replace. I use monospaced fonts for quite a bit of my
typing (2 e-mail systems), so I'm not sure if I will change my personal
habit right away.
As far as reading goes, sometimes single spacing looks great, and sometimes
I don't like it (with the same font). I have not yet figured out why
my eye perceives it differently at different times.
LaVonna
lffunkhouser -at- halnet -dot- com
<In case you care, I am *not* old and stuck in my ways. Maybe stuck,
but not old! ;-) We in the oddly named Generation X are always caught
in the middle! %-( >
