Sir Topham Hatt Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 What do you use? The forum defaults double spaces to one, but I have learnt in the last 10 years or so to put two. However we're having a debate at work. They've asked me to start putting one space, but it'll change the habit of a lifetime. I need a balanced argument for and against, so would appreciate the reasons why people use one or the either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Frank B. Subscriber² Posted September 15, 2014 Subscriber² Share Posted September 15, 2014 I've used one space after a period for my entire life. Shiranui, +E.Worm Jimmy, garwin and 1 other 4 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Top Qat Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 I've used one space after a period for my entire life. Same. garwin and Torolol 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Decryptor Veteran Posted September 15, 2014 Veteran Share Posted September 15, 2014 It depends on whatever standard you're writing against, I've always used a single space since that's what I've always been exposed to (And it maps well to HTML because it collapses whitespace but that's not important) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mulligan2k Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 a quick google informs me that double spacing after a full stop is only needed when the font is 'monospaced'. that means that each character space takes up the same horizontal width like on an old fashioned typewriter or the 'courier new' font since fonts like that have a lot of extra white space, the double space was used to help to spot sentences and make it easier to read +E.Worm Jimmy and alex_d2w 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ironman273 Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Q: My writing course instructor insists that I should go back through my novel manuscript and use only one space after periods instead of two spaces. I was taught that it was always a double space after period. Is she wrong or am I just a dinosaur??Anonymous The ?two spaces after period? rule was instituted during the days of typewriters. Typewriters had only one font, so all the letters were monospaced, or took up the same amount of space. That means that the skinny ?l? and wider ?w? occupied the same amount of space on paper. To make reading easier, the two-space rule was born to give the eyes a break between sentences.With the dawn of computers, word processing programs not only began offering an absurd number of fonts, but each font was programmed to space characters proportionally (?l? takes up about a third of the space ?w? does). In turn, most computer fonts will automatically give you enough room between sentences with one space. So, as a rule of thumb, use just one space when typing up your manuscript on a computer. There are a couple of exceptions?the fonts Courier and Monaco are still monospaced?but it?s better to stick with one space and switch fonts to Times New Roman or Arial rather than use two spaces. Source: WritersDigest I learned to type on a typewriter so a double space is ingrained for me. The way I see it is if someone learned to type on a computer they should learn to type with one space after a sentence. However, if one sees someone typing two spaces they should just assume they've been typing for a while and leave it at that. My mom actually hits "enter" when she's coming to the end of a line instead of letting it wrap. +E.Worm Jimmy 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Norris Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Two. Grew up with typewriters and monospaced computer/terminal fonts, and as I've been doing it for almost 40 years I'm very unlikely to stop. +devHead 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiagosilva29 Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 I just use LaTe? with the microtype package on default values and as long as I mark the correct end-of-sentence character it's all good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamieakers Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Qualified with the RSA Diploma in Text & Word Processing here (all the way to level 3!) and from Level 1 they teach to use double-space after a period. +devHead 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoom7000 Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Qualified with the RSA Diploma in Text & Word Processing here (all the way to level 3!) and from Level 1 they teach to use double-space after a period. Funny that, I did the same diploma at school and they taught us to use 1 space after all punctuation. Also, if you use 2 spaces in Microsoft Word, it will highlight an "error". Shiranui 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamieakers Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Funny that, I did the same diploma at school and they taught us to use 1 space after all punctuation. Also, if you use 2 spaces in Microsoft Word, it will highlight an "error". Aha. You must be the other person that did the course. My Word (2013) doesn't highlight the error here at all. Weird?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹ Posted September 15, 2014 Subscriber¹ Share Posted September 15, 2014 you must have grammar checking off.. yeah, double spacing is just weird. no need for it at all. i never used it. i did use a typewriter, but we got a computer before i hit school (and i was damn lucky with that...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
francescob Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Better use three just to be sure. +devHead, alex_d2w and +E.Worm Jimmy 3 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+devHead Subscriber² Posted September 15, 2014 Subscriber² Share Posted September 15, 2014 I write a lot and was taught years ago that two spaces should be after a full-stop / period. I've gotten so used to it, that I automatically hit the spacebar twice after every sentence I write, regardless of where it's written. Aha. You must be the other person that did the course. My Word (2013) doesn't highlight the error here at all. Weird?! By default, Word doesn't enforce the 2 space rule, but it can be enabled. Even though I use two spaces, I don't have the rule turned on in Word. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹ Posted September 15, 2014 Subscriber¹ Share Posted September 15, 2014 Better use three just to be sure. i actually laughed out loud. literally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+devHead Subscriber² Posted September 15, 2014 Subscriber² Share Posted September 15, 2014 Funny that, I did the same diploma at school and they taught us to use 1 space after all punctuation. Also, if you use 2 spaces in Microsoft Word, it will highlight an "error". Strange and odd. Of course, the thing I really can't stand is the people who put spaces before punctuation that isn't a full-stop / period. I've noticed on so many message boards that people put a space before things like question marks or commas in their sentences. Like this: What do you think about this ? Isn't it weird ? Just drives me nuts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syanide Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 One. I didn't even know that two was used before I had a typewriting class in a US school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CG-88 Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 I use one and until this thread, didn't know people used two :S Zoom7000 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hum Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 I s a y s p a c e b e t w e e n e v e r y t h i n g ! :woot: CG-88 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cute James Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 I use two spaces in emails, and any materials I prepare for my job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamieakers Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 I s a y s p a c e b e t w e e n e v e r y t h i n g ! :woot: LOL ! I was investigating a bug only the other day where this was happening on an email ! Looked extremely weird Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeChipshop Member Posted September 16, 2014 Member Share Posted September 16, 2014 One...duh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
francescob Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 I stopped using Double space when I upgraded to MSDOS 6.22. Shiranui and CG-88 2 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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