[Yardstick]

Today I received an email from my uncle, who is a one spacer, and was comparing it to my email to him which was two spaced. There simply was no doubt that his email looked better on the page. So I googled around to see which is correct and found this very interesting and persuasive article. I had no idea of the history of one versus two spaces. I was taught to use two and never thought much about it until now. They say you're pretty much set in your ways after about age twenty five, but I think I'm going to make a change--a seriesly hugh change--and become a one spacer. BTW, I just noticed that the FR software seems to reduce two spaces to one automatically.

[Travis McGee]

I'm currently formatting and finalizing my 4th novel, Castigo Cay.

And I think two spaces are better than one, by far.

One spacing is laziness in the computer age. It removes a step for the automatic programs.

[Huck]

I’m pretty sure I’ve always been a one-spacer. Yup. One space. I don’t think I ever considered a second space.

[Sloth]

I’ve read this article before and I completely disagree.

[balch3]

I was taught to use two space in my high school typing class years ago. I’ve tried using one space, but it just feels wrong.

[Christian Engineer Mass]

It's not the FR software, it's HTML. Two spaces will remain in the code on the page, but two spaces are automatically parsed to one by any browser, unless you put <PRE> tags around your text, like this:

I can type    with as many    spaces as I want Now.  New sentence.

[DennisR]

Two spaces is better. That is what I was taught in my tenth-grade typing class in the olden days (1967). It seems to make it much easier to determine where the end of a sentence is. I will be sticking with two spaces, regardless of what salon.com suggests. In fact, salon.com arguing against it make me even more determined to go with two! :)

[gorush]

This is the first time I have ever heard of the two space concept, wrong as it obviously is. :{)

[pnh102]

I’ll stop using that second space when you take it out of my cold, dead, hands.

[NWFLConservative]

In 5th grade typing class, back in 1968, we were always taught to use two spaces after a period.

[RegulatorCountry]

I’m in graphics. Personal communications, typewritten memos and such rely more on visual clarity and ease of reading than visual beauty. A serif font and two spaces after a period is the norm with this.

Marketing materials are a different matter. Style and beauty rise in priority, and one space is the norm. That’s the way professional fonts are intended to be used, and to do otherwise creates “white rivers” running visually down every block of copy, which is very ugly and distracting.

Then, there are those hybrid areas, such as catalogs and websites, that are intended to sell right off the page. Style matters, but ease of reading does also. In these, you often run into both, with visual beauty followed in areas remotely resembling ad copy, and more monotype with two spaces in functional copy.

[television is just wrong]

I was always instructed from jr high school on to always use two spaces after periods, question marks, exclamation marks, colons, and semi colons. one space after comas and all other punctuation.

[Da Coyote]

Wow, Slate is really stretching their intellect on this one. The liberal mind cannot take anything more technical.

[Ole Okie]

I really couldn’t care less.

BUT.....back in the dark ages in high school, I took two years of typing. It was one of the best investments of class time I made. It was gospel that sentences ended with a period followed by two spaces.

Since then, I’ve typed extensively on Royals, Underwoods, IBM Executives, and Microsoft and Logitech keyboards for almost 70 years. My thumb ain’t gonna be trained to do anything but hit the space bar twice after a period.

[InterceptPoint]

The Constitution is quite clear - it offers no protection for Two Spacers who deserve to be locked up forever in Gitmo. I mean consider the number of extra trees that need to be cut own to support this evil practice. I also recommend that we fund a few thousand Space Police and immediately initiate a War on Two Spacers.

[6SJ7]

Throw favorite fonts into the mix and you can really open up the discussion.

[Larry Lucido]

In space, no one can hear you scream.

Period.

[struggle]

Single space after the period. This is common sense in the word processor world, just as italicized sources are normal now instead of underlined ones.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Q: What’s the difference between Courtney Love and a pro hockey player?

A: A pro hockey player showers after three periods.

[Cicero]

I think the practice has changed in recent years.

Typesetting has changed, of course, with computer programs now being used to set up the type. And instead of sending hard copy to the author for proofreading, they email it in electronic form, and you email it back to them.

In earlier years, double spacing after the period ending a sentence was the standard practice. I think that is less the case now. I’ve published six books and numerous articles. I’m afraid I don’t remember when the practice changed from one to the other, but I think that single space has replaced the old double space in most instances.

I’m not sure if that’s universally true, though.

[LibFreeOrDie]

So this is worth a column in Slate? Typists used 2 spaces. Typographers use 1 space. No one else cares.