I VOTE FOR 2 SPACES!!! Is that loud enough? It has ALWAYS made reading, easier. Mitch -----Original Message----- From: Joel C. Ewing <jcew...@acm.org> To: IBM-MAIN <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> Sent: Fri, Feb 28, 2020 9:26 am Subject: Re: 2 Spaces after periods [was: RE: Rexx parse using period as placeholder]
This is a sentence ending with one space. This is a sentence ending with two spaces. My email client is supposedly using a proportional, variable width font, and the typical smaller width used for a space character tends to make sentences merge together visually when only a single space is used. Two spaces make the end of a sentence more apparent visually, especially since with many fonts a "period" is almost indistinguishable from a speck of dirt on the screen. The improved visual separation with two spaces is even greater on typical browser fonts. I personally think the argument for a single space at end of sentence is BS, made up out of laziness by someone who has not yet needed reading glasses. Setting off sentences with extra space was a long-established practice with good handwriting, not something that originated because typewriters had imprecise spacing. Yes, a single space at end of sentence may now be acceptable, but it is aesthetically inferior. JC Ewing On 2/28/20 5:38 AM, Joe Monk wrote: > The rule now is 1 space after a period. > > Two spaces after a period was the rule on a typewriter, because the fonts > weren't proportional, they were monospace. This led to uneven spacing of > words on paper, so two spaces was the rule. > > Nowadays, on a computer, the fonts are proportional. For instance on a > typewriter, the characters i and a take the same amount of space. But on a > word processor, i and a dont take the same amount of space. Thus, no need > for two spaces. > > This is a monospace font. > This is a proportional font. > > Joe > > On Thu, Feb 27, 2020 at 2:59 PM Paul Gilmartin < > 0000000433f07816-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote: > >> On Thu, 27 Feb 2020 15:48:44 -0500, Steve Smith wrote: >> >>> Thanks for another reminder I'm "really old" :-). The rule, btw, is two >>> spaces at the end of a sentence. And I think it makes at least as much >>> sense for proportional fonts as mono. You can (and I do) have Word check >>> to make sure they're always there... >>> >> Specifically, not after titles: "Ms. Smith", "Dr. Jones:. Also bad >> places for >> automatic linebreaks. >> >> -- gil >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, >> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN >> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN -- Joel C. Ewing ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
