How many spaces after a period?

One, definitely because 2 is an anachronism left over from typewriters and has no relevance in the word processor/digial age.

Heck HTML means any extras you type online are just gonna disappear anyway.

(unless you force a nbsp which I'm aware you can do with code)

One, definitely because 2 is an anachronism left over from typewriters and has no relevance in the word processor/digial age.

Yeah see I learned how to type on a typewriter at my still in the dark ages all-girls catholic HS. LOL typing was called "business class". Anyway, I didn't even know it was a typewriter thing until tonight. I thought it was how it's done. IDK. I could probably retrain myself not to do it but I don't see why. Nobody's ever said boo about it irl so I figure it's not hurting anyone.

I never learned typing properly either way, Im a raggedy 2-finger typist which surely must be obvious from my myriad hilarious errors on here :D

it's hurting me just knowing

xpost

DEAL WITH IT

I type with all my fingers but not in the right places. I don't have to look at the keys but that's not from that the lol "business" class it's just from years of working in offices and sitting in front of a computer all day.

it's 24-28 days on average. i do tend to feel a bit spacey afterwards.

why would you care either way

I had the fastest typing speed in my third grade class FYI FWIW. just sayin that makes me the ultimate authority on typing.

I always go with <i>The New Yorker</i> style guide.

Bah. The New Yorker.

I never learned typing properly either way, Im a raggedy 2-finger typist which surely must be obvious from my myriad hilarious errors on here :D

― Leave town with an orange, and pretend you're laughing at it. (Trayce), Thursday, December 15, 2011 8:35 PM (37 minutes ago) Bookmark Permalink

WTF!!!?? I am massively disturbed, tbh!

Nobody's ever said boo about it irl so I figure it's not hurting anyone.

You have had the benefit of not having to worry about something you write being published, or else you have had copyeditors who are far more discreet and patient than I am/was.

Like a lot of people I was taught to use 2 spaces. I stopped maybe 5-6 years ago and feel kind of dumb for having done the 2 spaces thing for so long.

I mean, once you read an explanation of why one space is better than two, it's pretty difficult to continue typing 2 spaces and live with yourself

why would you waste precious moments of your life typing all those extra spaces?

http://0.tqn.com/d/desktoppub/1/0/U/S/3/0112endspace.gif

Frankly, I don't think I can see the benefits of two spaces even in the monotype font.

One. Two is abject nonsense. The fact that HTML rendering collapses whitespace has spared all of you two-spacers from embarrassment all this time, by the way.

That's right, you may be double-spacing after your periods but your browser don't care.

WHy are you disturbed Leeeeee!~? Or am I missing some sark ;P

On the other hand TeX automatically inserts some amount of extra space after periods, I should look into adjusting that one of these days…

Apparently in TeX the \frenchspacing macro tells TeX to use the same spacing between words as between sentences.

So one space may be better, but it may also be French.

xpost I thought you worked with computers!

So glad I was never taught two. One for all-time.

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

oh nm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grlOImCXqW0

ONE

when i edited my student magazine i had to send round a very strongly worded email to all contributors telling them they needed to cut that two-spaces shit out

I'd never even heard of using two spaces (or the justification for it) before this thread, though I don't think I've ever used a typewriter either.

ya me neith

Is this an American thing? Come to think of it, my ex-boss, who was American, used to do this all the time.

I'd never even heard of using two spaces (or the justification for it) before this thread

i am sure we have done this thread before.

i did two-spaces in school, and it was very satisfying to double-tap the space bar, but as it is wrong with variable-width fonts i trained myself out of it. One of the ways I recognised that it was wrong was that I noticed that html automatically stripped out the extra space. the other day i had to proof-read something for my momz and you could tell the bits i'd written apart from hers by my lack of extra space - she later went through and painstakingly added the extra space in, and then her editor went through and stripped all of the extra spaces out.

we did this back in real ilx. i think at the time i voted for 2, because i'd been taught that. nowadays i'm strictly a one space soldier

nowadays, don't word processors force an em space after a full stop? that is what i like best bcz i was brought up by a copy of Hart's Rules.

Using two for fixed-width type seems even weirder than for variable-width, to my eyes - it's already open and spacey enough as it is.

iow:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzgGTTtR0kc

YE-YEEAH-AAH

I was raised on two in typing class and stuff, but I definitely got into an argument about this on irl-ilx before and was shamed into changing my ways.

But then again, maybe it's just an ilx thing like hating cargo shorts or flip-flops.

I was taught 2 as well. In fact I only found out that was wrong the first time ILX did this thread. I don't really know why it's such a big deal though.

i was raised on 2 and it just makes sense to me. i like a bit of a breath after a sentence. i don't really care to retrain myself at this point in time.

― surm, Friday, 16 December 2011 01:53 (8 hours ago) Bookmark Permalink

^^^

you know what is a hard thing to do, having to write brochure copy or some other text per the house style of just one space. you end up going back & deleting accidental doubles.

feel like everyone who's arguing that it just ~is~ one, naturally, is revealing their lack of imagination and basic inability to find or imbue their life with some small occasional joy

fuck an extra space

One 1 One 1 One 1

Double spacing after a period makes me IA and I can't help but feel people who do this are disgusting savages. I had to create a macro to automatically rid all articles I get at the paper here, and letters and such, to edit those mofo's out. What a world we live in...

feel like everyone who's arguing that it's 2 because they have a sentimental attachment to it needs to have a good hard think about mystification and false consciousness.

otm. otm. otm.

ONE YOU SILLY PEOPLE!

OK, so for all you number twos. Do you think 2 spaces really look better? They're sick. Sick and wrong.

 ooh

       my

I mean, once you read an explanation of why one space is better than two, it's pretty difficult to continue typing 2 spaces and live with yourself

― silverfish, Friday, December 16, 2011 12:25 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Permalink

Wait so what's the argument other than it's no longer necessary?

the Zog media has brainwashed them into believing the lie!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFpsDAL4oKE

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Poll Results
Option Votes
1 76
2 12

About what I expected.

I use 1 space. In typing class we were taught 2 spaces (1991, on typewriters) and I kept doing it until ~2005 when I was SCHOCKED to learn that the rationale behind 2 spaces didn't apply to most typing on a computer.

It was not difficult at all to retrain myself, though the double-tap on the space bar did feel really satisfying.

Double-tapping two-space trogs is equally satisfying, imo.

I am thinking this poll solves nothing. nothing. the bleak futility of it rises up and threatens to engulf me.

i just got an iphone and i'm worried the period trick is gonna bring back some old habits