Once space, not two.

[reedrover]

I'm so monumentally guilty of two spaces that it's funny to me for me to post this.

"Space Invaders: Why you should never, ever use two spaces after a period." By Farhad Manjoo

Can I let you in on a secret? Typing two spaces after a period is totally, completely, utterly, and inarguably wrong

Comments

[kaelikat]

How bizarre.. I remember learning typing (yes, on a typewriter) while growing up and specifically being instructed that we use two spaces after a period ending a sentence. Hmm.. thinking back, that two space rule was everywhere, wasn't it? Makes me wonder what typography books he's referring to and when they were published. :P

[sihaya09]

The rules started to change after people made the switch from typewriters to computers, presumably because it takes up less memory to use one space instead of two, among a few other tiny reasons. It's a relatively recent change.

[kaelikat]

Aah.. it is funny. I do find myself using only one space for most online things, like comments and blog entries. But when I'm writing documents for presentation (with the exception of power point presentations) or similarly formal purposes, I still stick with the traditional two spaces like I'd been taught.

:)

[melaniesuzanne]

I, too, was taught to put two spaces after a period in high school typing class. I have fallen out of that habit with my exposure to programming and have used a single space after periods for more than a decade now. I'm rather pleased that I no longer have to feel guilty about being a single-spacer.

[reedrover]

I didn't know that anyone had to feel guilty. I just want people to be consistent.

[melaniesuzanne]

Oh no. You're not making me feel guilty. It's been a feeling of breaking the rules that I've harbored for years and years.

[ambyr]

This. This, this, this.

If pressed, I will admit I prefer single-spacing. But you want to double-space? Knock yourself out. Just, for god's sake, pick one. (And please don't pick 3 or 4; I spend enough time messing with kerning to make things flow properly into narrow-columned formats as it is.) Don't make me run multiple find-and-replaces through the entire document just to clean it up. Irregular spacing leaps out at me as though someone dumped a bottle of whiteout over the page.

. . .this may be exclusively an editorial problem, yes.

[sihaya09]

The weird thing is that I was taught in school to use two spaces, and it this point, it's a habit I'm never gonna break.

I thought Farhad Manjoo's tone in this piece was so pearl-clutchy and ridiculous, I couldn't help but laugh.

[sihaya09]

The funny thing is that looking at my comments and melaniesuzanne's, I see absolutely no difference in our spacing. So much ballyhooing over a tiny, tiny difference!

[vvalkyri]

I don't think HTML recognizes more than one space in a row except if there's a special character.

So if I want to s p a c e out characters in a word I can do it, but if I want two spaces between two s p a c e d < >< > o u t < >< > words I have to put in " " in brackets in between.

[sihaya09]

Ahhh, that makes sense, then.

Oh, I do love me some grammar-nerd rage.

[madmoisellestar]

The head of editorial in my office gives a very similar rant to all new employees as a part of induction training. I find it oddly endearing.

Re: Oh, I do love me some grammar-nerd rage.

[reedrover]

If you really love grammar nerd rage, you can always follow this tag back a few years.

Re: Oh, I do love me some grammar-nerd rage.

[madmoisellestar]

That also was quite endearing. :)

[soubrettic]

Haven't read the article yet, but the comments here have been fascinating -- I've never heard of the two-space rule before at all! I never took a typing class, though... but all my childhood papers were proofed by my mom, who had in previous lives been both an English teacher and a secretary. Perhaps it was a regional thing?