How many spaces after a period?

[michigancat]

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

[Tobias]

I use Courier.  I don't get the big deal? 

[Catchacold]

 

[michigancat]

I wonder how much data has been wasted by extra spaces after periods? I'll bet quite a bit.

[felix rex]

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.

[CNS]

Prof Freidman says that two spaces is correct.  Typographers can suck a dick.

Two spaces FTW.

[michigancat]

Prof Freidman says that two spaces is correct.

But why?

[Tobias]

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.

[felix rex]

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.

[Tobias]

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?  

[CNS]

Prof Freidman says that two spaces is correct.

But why?

Visual designation. 

My eighth grade typing teacher sides with Freidman as well. 

[michigancat]

Prof Freidman says that two spaces is correct.

But why?

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?

[CNS]

Prof Freidman says that two spaces is correct.

But why?

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.

[Dirty Sanchez]

Prof Freidman says that two spaces is correct.

But why?

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

[pissclams]

way too long, way too few spaces after periods, and guess what else?

[ew2x4]

One space or bust.

[j rake]

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.

[Saulbadguy]

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.

[Ghost of Stan Parrish]

 

[j rake]

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.

[hemmy]

I read about the whole type writer thing a long time ago, but 2 spaces makes it easier to quickly distinguish ends of sentences.

[Saulbadguy]

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.

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.

[j rake]

Send me your next paper. Will teach you a few tricks.

[Saulbadguy]

Send me your next paper. Will teach you a few tricks.

WILL DO! 

[Dr Rick Daris]

one space. and get rid of commas. they're stupid.