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Subject:Two spaces vs. one From:Daniel Strychalski <dski -at- CAMEONET -dot- CAMEO -dot- COM -dot- TW> Date:Sun, 4 Jun 1995 10:54:17 +0800
The listserver software rejected the following message because I forgot to
add a subject line (serves me right); then it rejected the follow-up on the
grounds that the message had already been posted. Isn't technology fun?
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In the days of typewritten manuscripts, writers were required to put two
spaces between sentences AND to double-space the lines (that is, to leave
extra blank space between them) so editors, proofreaders, typists, and
compositors could do their jobs more easily.
We've dispensed with double-spacing, but many people still put two spaces
between sentences or even after all word-end punctuation. This improves
readability, no boubt adout it, but it also creates problems in many
programs (an extra space wrapping to the next line, or being put on a line
of its own, or causing the entire display to shift sideways, for example).
I personally like to get as much text as I can on my screen, so I normally
put only one space between sentences. In material intended for viewing on
monospaced displays, I sometimes put an extra space after a question mark or
double quotation mark, however, because a space can really get swallowed up
between one of these and the following capital letter. If the extra space
adds a line to the paragraph, though, I remove it.
As for WP software, some of you might remember WordStar, the premier word
processing program of the late seventies and early eighties. Long before the
PC was even a gleam in an IBM exec's eye, WS offered "microjustification"
and proportional spacing on daisywheel printers. When you enabled either of
these functions, the program automatically put an extra bit of space after
each period. Whether current WP progs do that or not, I don't know.
It wouldn't surprise me if some don't. Dan Strychalski
dski -at- cameonet -dot- cameo -dot- com -dot- tw
