TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
>>> Dick Margulis <ampersandvirgule -at- worldnet -dot- att -dot- net> 07/27 6:56 PM >>>
<sniperoo>
>Systems with a word processing heritage (such as Word) ...<snip> do not handle any form of
>French spacing, either true (with a quad) or pseudo (with a double
>space).
>A CONCLUSION
>It is still true that for greater readability extra space after a
>sentence is desirable. Nonetheless, there is no practical way to
>implement the practice unless you are willing to do a lot of manual
>checking of line beginnings and endings. <snip>
The only tool I use frequently enought to speak for is MS Word, which you specifically mention. Word doesn't have any problem handling double-spacing after sentences. Even with full justification and two spaces after every sentence, there is never any additional space at the end of lines or the beginning of lines. You would only have this problem if you selected the custom option of "Wrap trailing spaces to next line" (Tools>Options, Compatibility tab, Options box). By default, this is turned off, and it's beyond me why anyone would turn it on--it will definitely cause those odd beginning-of-line tiny indents.