Do you add two spaces after a period?

@Hailinel said:

@B0nd07: Still typing two spaces though. Because that's just what feels right.

Hell yeah it's right. Plus it's such an automatic thing for me that typing the heathen-one-space way would make me so much slower.

Nope, not since the last time one of these threads popped up. It was surprisingly easy to modify my behavior. I was single-spacing after a period without having to think about it the same day that I learned that it was not technically proper.

Always 2 spaces. Though with computers these days I don't think it's much of an issue because most programs will make the space following a period longer.

I suspect that this is an age issue with the younger crowd being taught to single space while we were taught to double space after a period.

I might have heard something similar to that once, but that's just crazy.

If it's a professional matter, yes. If it's for the forums or some other online interaction, no.

No. When I was in school we were always specifically told not to do that.

I think I recall being taught to use two spaces back in my middle school typing class, but I think I dropped it pretty quickly. I occasionally see people use two spaces, but it's very rare.

@B0nd07 said:

@Hailinel: Same here. The only time I don't is on Twitter.

@Insectecutor said:

If you try to do it in MS Word it auto-collapses to one space. If you try to do it in HTML it auto-collapses to one space. Don't ever do it. It is a practice popularised by 90s IT teachers who didn't understand computers.

Not true, depending on the program and version. I use an old version of Word. It doesn't do that. I use a program called TextPad for my web page building. It also doesn't do that. And, as I said above, the only time it's absolutely wrong is if your editor or other superior tells you so.

Sure you can disable this functionality or use software that is a decade old, that doesn't somehow make it correct.

Of course you can double space in a plaintext editor, but when your HTML is rendered in a browser it collapses the spaces to one space, no matter how many you put in.

Pretty much every modern, credible text on how to set type says you should not put double spaces in.

Only if you're using a typewriter.

@MooseyMcMan said:

No. When I was in school we were always specifically told not to do that.

Your school was run by heathens and blackguards.

@Insectecutor said:

@B0nd07 said:

@Hailinel: Same here. The only time I don't is on Twitter.

@Insectecutor said:

If you try to do it in MS Word it auto-collapses to one space. If you try to do it in HTML it auto-collapses to one space. Don't ever do it. It is a practice popularised by 90s IT teachers who didn't understand computers.

Not true, depending on the program and version. I use an old version of Word. It doesn't do that. I use a program called TextPad for my web page building. It also doesn't do that. And, as I said above, the only time it's absolutely wrong is if your editor or other superior tells you so.

Sure you can disable this functionality or use software that is a decade old, that doesn't somehow make it correct.

Of course you can double space in a plaintext editor, but when your HTML is rendered in a browser it collapses the spaces to one space, no matter how many you put in.

Pretty much every modern, credible text on how to set type says you should not put double spaces in.

You don't need software that's a decade old. Even the most recent versions of Word don't flip out if you insert two spaces between sentences. And if "pretty much every modern, credible text" says to do as you say, then name some of them.

Not that I'll really give a shit, because I will continue to type as I was taught regardless.

Yep, this is what they taught me back in typing class. My typing class used typewriters by the way and not computers because those were too expensive. We had 5 Apple IIes and a couple of IBM PCs in out computer lab in high school.

No, I'm not a crazy person.

Yeah, It's how I was taught in school and old habits tend to stick. But I didn't know that it was apparently an issue of such hot debate. It's not like most programs now don't collapse it down to one space anyway. It seems like a non-issue, honestly.

Think of all the time you could save by not doing that. If you've been doing it your whole life you could have a solid 6-12 seconds saved up for a good stretch or something. Have fun not stretching, idiot.

I do not, and honestly I don't ever notice is when someone does.

No, it looks weird. One space is all you need.

For school, yes. For internet, no.

This is amazing. I've never heard of anyone doing a single space after a period. It's two spaces every time for me, unless some computer nonsense mangles it up. I didn't know anybody did that on purpose. I'm not stopping.

EDIT: Look what the internet just did to my beautiful spaces! I hate that. It looks like one sentence.

Two spaces is just a remnant of now archaic typewriter technology, so no.

No because I'm not a monster.

Actually, it doesn't matter what you do, but it's definitely not something you correct anyone on, because one or the other is right. I remember back in high school when one of my friends said the same exact thing to me, I got miffed because I had never heard of such an idiotic thing, I mean, what's the purpose of separating it? There isn't any in this day and age.

I just found this, you can read it. It's interesting. So I guess single space is the only correct way.

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2011/01/space_invaders.html

I am not about to read through five pages of responses, so if i am repeating something please forgive me.

Here is the rule:

You use double spaces after a period when you are Typewriting.

You use single spaces after a period when you are Typesetting.

Everything you do on a computer is an equivalent of Typesetting. . . therefore you are not supposed to use a double space.

@Hailinel said:

@MooseyMcMan said:

No. When I was in school we were always specifically told not to do that.

Your school was run by heathens and blackguards.

@Insectecutor said:

@B0nd07 said:

@Hailinel: Same here. The only time I don't is on Twitter.

@Insectecutor said:

If you try to do it in MS Word it auto-collapses to one space. If you try to do it in HTML it auto-collapses to one space. Don't ever do it. It is a practice popularised by 90s IT teachers who didn't understand computers.

Not true, depending on the program and version. I use an old version of Word. It doesn't do that. I use a program called TextPad for my web page building. It also doesn't do that. And, as I said above, the only time it's absolutely wrong is if your editor or other superior tells you so.

Sure you can disable this functionality or use software that is a decade old, that doesn't somehow make it correct.

Of course you can double space in a plaintext editor, but when your HTML is rendered in a browser it collapses the spaces to one space, no matter how many you put in.

Pretty much every modern, credible text on how to set type says you should not put double spaces in.

You don't need software that's a decade old. Even the most recent versions of Word don't flip out if you insert two spaces between sentences. And if "pretty much every modern, credible text" says to do as you say, then name some of them.

Not that I'll really give a shit, because I will continue to type as I was taught regardless.

Variable width fonts contain kerning rules that dictate how the glyphs should be spaced for best readability. This includes white-space after periods and commas. If you start adding additional space you prevent these rules from working properly (unless the text layout engine is smart enough to protect you from yourself), and your text looks like shit.

Also some renderers don't handle things like wrapping and justification properly if you double-space. This is rare nowadays because most software collapses double spaces to one variable width space in justified text, or trims them off the start of wrapped lines.

The people who spent weeks and months creating the typefaces and the software that presents them on screen know a shitload more about type than you or I do, so let them handle it.

Also I'm not going to do the busy work of typing "double space after period experts" into google, you do it. I would be more interested if you can find a non-justified line in any respected book, magazine or newspaper published in the last 30 years that shows two spaces after a period. Good luck!

Edit: oh and word doesn't "flip out", it quietly removes the double space as you type. If you go back and add in the extra spaces after you've finished typing it'll do it I think, but you'd be mad to do that.

Yes. I think it makes text easier to read. Plus I was taught that way.

Edit: I also just realize after posting the above that one of my spaces is being deleted.

Edit 2: Now I'm noticing that this seems to be done in multiple places. Having I been wasting spaces all the years.

@NTM said:

Actually, it doesn't matter what you do, but it's definitely not something you correct anyone on, because one or the other is right. I remember back in high school when one of my friends said the same exact thing to me, I got miffed because I had never heard of such an idiotic thing, I mean, what's the purpose of separating it? There isn't any in this day and age.

I just found this, you can read it. It's interesting. So I guess single space is the only correct way.

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2011/01/space_invaders.html

There is a book sized counter article specifically referncing that slate piece you posted - thanks for the link although I have read it today, or rather skimmed it.

http://www.heracliteanriver.com/?p=324

Not anymore. I did double space up until a few years ago and had to break the habit.

I didn't even know that was a thing.

Of course I double space after a period. I'm not some kind of miserable savage.

Edit: And apparently Giant Bomb is now 'correcting' my sentences to have only one space after each period? Eff that.

@Humanity: Oh well, it doesn't matter. I think single space is correct, and if someone were to correct me on that, I'd consider them to be an idiot, not necessarily because they do double space, but because they're trying to correct me on something that's already correct.

Never. And anyone who does should probably be shot. Quick death though. Slow death to people who put a space BEFORE the period/questionmark/exclamation point.

No. What kind of weird practice is that? I don't understand why people would do that. One space is enough.

I guess the text editor didn't like my joke.

@Humanity said:

@NTM said:

Actually, it doesn't matter what you do, but it's definitely not something you correct anyone on, because one or the other is right. I remember back in high school when one of my friends said the same exact thing to me, I got miffed because I had never heard of such an idiotic thing, I mean, what's the purpose of separating it? There isn't any in this day and age.

I just found this, you can read it. It's interesting. So I guess single space is the only correct way.

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2011/01/space_invaders.html

There is a book sized counter article specifically referncing that slate piece you posted - thanks for the link although I have read it today, or rather skimmed it.

http://www.heracliteanriver.com/?p=324

Yeah and that article contains explicit non-breaking space entities throughout the text to force the browser to break its kerning rules, so they had to write the article in notepad and then find-and-replace all double spaces with "  ". Some people are crazy.

Also the assertion that book publishers wanted to remove double spaces so they could make books cheaper is a joke. Most text in books, magazines and newspapers is justified so the spacing between words expands to fill the width of the page or column. Double spacing has no effect if the text is full-justified, and a much more effective way to reduce the number of pages is to reduce the line-spacing by a fraction or reduce the point-size by a fraction.

So now that I've switched to Parchment v1 again, I should be able to type like a right and proper human being?  Awesome.

Edit: Oh yeah, there are my precious double spaces.  I missed you.  Never go away again.

@NTM said:

I just found this, you can read it. It's interesting. So I guess single space is the only correct way.

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2011/01/space_invaders.html

Oh good, someone found that self-important Slate article again. The one we fought about almost two years ago. Sorry, but that's an opinion piece; he has no authority over the subject. There is nothing inherently wrong with using two spaces.

From the MLA:

"Because it is increasingly common for papers and manuscripts to be prepared with a single space after all punctuation marks, this spacing is shown in the examples in the MLA Handbook and the MLA Style Manual. As a practical matter, however, there is nothing wrong with using two spaces after concluding punctuation marks unless an instructor or editor requests that you do otherwise."

Source

From the APA:

Spacing (4.01). Regarding punctuation in manuscript drafts, APA suggests using two spaces after periods ending sentences to aid readability.

Source

And someone beat me at posting that counter article.

@Make_Me_Mad said:

So now that I've switched to Parchment v1 again, I should be able to type like a right and proper human being? Awesome.

Edit: Oh yeah, there are my precious double spaces. I missed you. Never go away again.

Oh god, it looks horrible ><

EDIT: I'm actually serious. If someone sent me a document formatted like that I would have to find and replace all double spaces with single spaces before I could read it without flipping out.

@Make_Me_Mad said:

So now that I've switched to Parchment v1 again, I should be able to type like a right and proper human being? Awesome.

Edit: Oh yeah, there are my precious double spaces. I missed you. Never go away again.

Oh god, it looks horrible ><

@Insectecutor: I dunno what any of that means but it sounds complicated!

@Anund: Ditto only replace single with double spaces. Thats actually what I did today when proof reading a document.

@B0nd07: Yes, I said that, but I still posted that link anyways. It's not my opinion.

@NTM:Yeah, wasn't really meant as a reply to you alone, but to anyone that read that, be it now or the first time it showed up, and thinks that his thoughts are law.

Not at all. Ever. Like many people have said already, its a hangover from the typewriter era

@B0nd07 said:

@NTM said:

I just found this, you can read it. It's interesting. So I guess single space is the only correct way.

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2011/01/space_invaders.html

Oh good, someone found that self-important Slate article again. The one we fought about almost two years ago. Sorry, but that's an opinion piece; he has no authority over the subject. There is nothing inherently wrong with using two spaces.

From the MLA:

"Because it is increasingly common for papers and manuscripts to be prepared with a single space after all punctuation marks, this spacing is shown in the examples in the MLA Handbook and the MLA Style Manual. As a practical matter, however, there is nothing wrong with using two spaces after concluding punctuation marks unless an instructor or editor requests that you do otherwise."

Source

From the APA:

Spacing (4.01). Regarding punctuation in manuscript drafts, APA suggests using two spaces after periods ending sentences to aid readability.

Source

And someone beat me at posting that counter article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_spacing_in_language_and_style_guides

This is the article you wanted. I am sorry for your loss.

Edit: and please read it and check the sources, don't just search for the first one that validates your opinion and post a quote. Thanks.

@Insectecutor said:

Also I'm not going to do the busy work of typing "double space after period experts" into google, you do it. I would be more interested if you can find a non-justified line in any respected book, magazine or newspaper published in the last 30 years that shows two spaces after a period. Good luck!

That's not how it works. You make the claim, you provide the evidence yourself. Don't expect others to verify your claims for you.

@Insectecutor said:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_spacing_in_language_and_style_guides

This is the article you wanted. I am sorry for your loss.

Edit: and please read it and check the sources, don't just search for the first one that validates your opinion and post a quote. Thanks.

Wikipedia is not the all-knowing bastion of knowledge you apparently believe it is.

I feel like middle-high school teachers tend to preach the double space to make it easier on reading for them; however, I've never done it as I find it tacky and unprofessional. A single space is the way to go.

If you add two spaces after a period, you are a monster and a war criminal.

@Hailinel said:

@Insectecutor said:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_spacing_in_language_and_style_guides

This is the article you wanted. I am sorry for your loss.

Edit: and please read it and check the sources, don't just search for the first one that validates your opinion and post a quote. Thanks.

Wikipedia is not the all-knowing bastion of knowledge you apparently believe it is.

No but the sources it references such as the Associated Press, the US government, the European Union and Oxford university are. And I checked the sources before I posted that link to make sure anyone who came along to say "wah wah wah wikipedia!" wouldn't have a case. This is why I advised you do the same in my post.

Also some choice bits from the "all-knowing bastion of knowledge" that is the APA while I'm here:

"Although the usual convention for published works remains one space after each period, and indeed the decision regarding whether to include one space or two rests, in the end, with the publication designer, APA thinks the added space makes sense for draft manuscripts in light of those manuscript readers who might benefit from a brief but refreshing pause."

For the reading comprehension impaired: published works are not the same as draft manuscripts.

Some dude in the comments on that blog post says that this is stupid because it means he'll have to remove the double spaces from his draft before submitting it for publication. The response is:

"I know some printers can easily strip out extra spaces; in fact, this is a routine part of the manuscript preparation process here at the APA."

So everyone shut up about the APA.

@Insectecutor said:

@Hailinel said:

@Insectecutor said:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_spacing_in_language_and_style_guides

This is the article you wanted. I am sorry for your loss.

Edit: and please read it and check the sources, don't just search for the first one that validates your opinion and post a quote. Thanks.

Wikipedia is not the all-knowing bastion of knowledge you apparently believe it is.

No but the sources it references such as the Associated Press, the US government, the European Union and Oxford university are. And I checked the sources before I posted that link to make sure anyone who came along to say "wah wah wah wikipedia!" wouldn't have a case. This is why I advised you do the same in my post.

Also some choice bits from the "all-knowing bastion of knowledge" that is the APA while I'm here:

"Although the usual convention for published works remains one space after each period, and indeed the decision regarding whether to include one space or two rests, in the end, with the publication designer, APA thinks the added space makes sense for draft manuscripts in light of those manuscript readers who might benefit from a brief but refreshing pause."

For the reading comprehension impaired: published works are not the same as draft manuscripts.

Some dude in the comments on that blog post says that this is stupid because it means he'll have to remove the double spaces from his draft before submitting it for publication. The response is:

"I know some printers can easily strip out extra spaces; in fact, this is a routine part of the manuscript preparation process here at the APA."

So everyone shut up about the APA.

You're being incredibly snotty about this. Your point, your defense, your responsibility to highlight evidence. It's that's too much for you to do without whining, then I'm sorry, but that's not my problem.

And the APA doesn't explicitly state, "two spaces are bad, mmkay?" If the extra space is removed in the process of preparing a work for publishing, that's fine, but that doesn't negate the way one can type up the manuscript that the published work is derived from.

@Insectecutor:

"Although the usualconvention for published works remains one space after each period, and indeed the decision regarding whether to include one space or two rests, in the end, with the publication designer, APA thinks the added space makes sense for draft manuscripts in light of those manuscript readers who might benefit from a brief but refreshing pause."

This does not say that two spaces is wrong, simply that one space is the norm when it comes to published works.

Also, thank you for insulting my intelligence earlier by suggesting I didn't read what I posted. I did read them. When this topic first popped up a year ago and again today.

No. That would be dumb. Chea.