Author Topic: How many spaces after a period?  (Read 10589 times)

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Offline michigancat

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How many spaces after a period?
« on: January 19, 2011, 06:53:27 PM »
I've always been a two space guy, but now I feel like a putz. It's like, really hard to change.

STORY:

http://www.slate.com/id/2281146


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Offline Tobias

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Re: How many spaces after a period?
« Reply #1 on: January 19, 2011, 06:58:24 PM »
I use Courier.  I don't get the big deal?  :dunno:

Offline Catchacold

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Re: How many spaces after a period?
« Reply #2 on: January 19, 2011, 06:59:38 PM »
 :horrorsurprise:

Offline michigancat

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Re: How many spaces after a period?
« Reply #3 on: January 19, 2011, 07:01:38 PM »
I wonder how much data has been wasted by extra spaces after periods? I'll bet quite a bit.

Offline felix rex

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Re: How many spaces after a period?
« Reply #4 on: January 19, 2011, 07:08:53 PM »
Was two spaces all the way through grad school for. Same at the law firm I first worked at. But gov/military writing is strictly one space. It was really hard to get used to.
"How will I recruit to Manhattan? Well, distance. And the proud state of basketball. It start there, and then daily flights to Dallas, because I'm really good at going out. Like top five good. Ask my wife. She wants me to be happy."

Offline CNS

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Re: How many spaces after a period?
« Reply #5 on: January 19, 2011, 07:10:51 PM »
Prof Freidman says that two spaces is correct.  Typographers can suck a dick.

Two spaces FTW.

Offline michigancat

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Re: How many spaces after a period?
« Reply #6 on: January 19, 2011, 07:13:34 PM »
Prof Freidman says that two spaces is correct.

But why? :dunno:

Offline Tobias

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Re: How many spaces after a period?
« Reply #7 on: January 19, 2011, 07:13:58 PM »
My little sister tried springing this single space propaganda on me.  I thought it was some sort of bullshit graphic design Kool-Aid she was drinking - like making every web page an image map .gif.  I'm taking two spaces with me to the god damned grave.

Offline felix rex

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Re: How many spaces after a period?
« Reply #8 on: January 19, 2011, 07:17:26 PM »
I'm a full-blown one-space convert. I never liked the two spaces. Seemed like a waste of space. One space was a revelation.
"How will I recruit to Manhattan? Well, distance. And the proud state of basketball. It start there, and then daily flights to Dallas, because I'm really good at going out. Like top five good. Ask my wife. She wants me to be happy."

Offline Tobias

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Re: How many spaces after a period?
« Reply #9 on: January 19, 2011, 07:17:58 PM »
Quote from: Farhad Manjoo
Every modern typographer agrees on the one-space rule.

C'mon, "Farhad" - you gonna give me some statistics on what unicorns think about proper hyphenation?  :flush:

Offline CNS

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Re: How many spaces after a period?
« Reply #10 on: January 19, 2011, 07:28:26 PM »
Prof Freidman says that two spaces is correct.

But why? :dunno:

Visual designation. 

My eighth grade typing teacher sides with Freidman as well. 

Offline michigancat

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Re: How many spaces after a period?
« Reply #11 on: January 19, 2011, 07:31:49 PM »
Prof Freidman says that two spaces is correct.

But why? :dunno:

Visual designation. 

My eighth grade typing teacher sides with Freidman as well. 

Did you read that article? Did you really notice how many spaces were after the periods?

Offline CNS

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Re: How many spaces after a period?
« Reply #12 on: January 19, 2011, 07:32:51 PM »
Prof Freidman says that two spaces is correct.

But why? :dunno:

Visual designation. 

My eighth grade typing teacher sides with Freidman as well. 

Did you read that article? Did you really notice how many spaces were after the periods?

Made me crazy.

Also, it is a bigger deal with diff fonts.

Offline Dirty Sanchez

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Re: How many spaces after a period?
« Reply #13 on: January 19, 2011, 07:53:24 PM »
Prof Freidman says that two spaces is correct.

But why? :dunno:

Don't doubt professors.  They're smarter than us.  Its science.  The debate is over.

Offline pissclams

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Re: How many spaces after a period?
« Reply #14 on: January 19, 2011, 07:54:23 PM »
way too long, way too few spaces after periods, and guess what else?



Cheesy Mustache QB might make an appearance.

New warning: Don't get in a fight with someone who doesn't even need to bother to buy ink.

Offline ew2x4

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Re: How many spaces after a period?
« Reply #15 on: January 19, 2011, 08:18:46 PM »
One space or bust.

Offline j rake

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Re: How many spaces after a period?
« Reply #16 on: January 19, 2011, 08:36:08 PM »
It should be one space after a period — period.

The only reason why some people, particularly older people, use two spaces after a period is because they grew up using typewriters. Your computer teachers in middle school also probably taught you the typewriter method since that's all they knew.

Typewriters had what were called "monospaced" fonts, meaning that every character takes up the same amount of space. Since all characters were the same width, you needed two spaces after periods to help break up your sentences.

With computers, each character has a different width. The W is considerably wider than the I, the m is wider than the l, and so on. Therefore there is no longer a need for the extra space after periods.


Offline Saulbadguy

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Re: How many spaces after a period?
« Reply #17 on: January 19, 2011, 08:39:10 PM »
I always increase spaces between characters, teachers never check for that.  I will continue to use two periods in my papers too, any thing to meet the minimum page thing.
Where did you get that overnight bag?

Offline Ghost of Stan Parrish

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Offline j rake

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Re: How many spaces after a period?
« Reply #19 on: January 19, 2011, 08:50:50 PM »
I always increase spaces between characters, teachers never check for that.  I will continue to use two periods in my papers too, any thing to meet the minimum page thing.

Wait, I thought you were Saul?

Also, it is doubtful the extra spaces amount to much.
You are better off using lots of paragraphs and increasing margins.
« Last Edit: January 19, 2011, 08:53:05 PM by j rake »

Offline hemmy

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Re: How many spaces after a period?
« Reply #20 on: January 19, 2011, 08:56:20 PM »
I read about the whole type writer thing a long time ago, but 2 spaces makes it easier to quickly distinguish ends of sentences.

Offline Saulbadguy

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Re: How many spaces after a period?
« Reply #21 on: January 19, 2011, 09:19:17 PM »
I always increase spaces between characters, teachers never check for that.  I will continue to use two periods in my papers too, any thing to meet the minimum page thing.

Wait, I thought you were Saul?

Also, it is doubtful the extra spaces amount to much.
You are better off using lots of paragraphs and increasing margins.
Yes, this is still Saul. :fatty:

I do the paragraph and margin thing, but teachers are on to the margins thing.  They don't allow more than 1.0 anymore. 

Character spacing is where it's at.  That and incoherent babbling in the middle of the paper.
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Offline j rake

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Re: How many spaces after a period?
« Reply #22 on: January 19, 2011, 09:20:38 PM »
Send me your next paper. Will teach you a few tricks.

Offline Saulbadguy

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Re: How many spaces after a period?
« Reply #23 on: January 19, 2011, 09:21:30 PM »
Send me your next paper. Will teach you a few tricks.
WILL DO! 
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Offline Dr Rick Daris

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Re: How many spaces after a period?
« Reply #24 on: January 19, 2011, 09:26:51 PM »
one space. and get rid of commas. they're stupid.