Two spaces vs. one space?

[DSTRen13]

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Space Invaders
Why you should never, ever use two spaces after a period.
By Farhad ManjooPosted Thursday, Jan. 13, 2011, at 6:20 PM ET

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

And yet people who use two spaces are everywhere, their ugly error crossing every social boundary of class, education, and taste.* You'd expect, for instance, that anyone savvy enough to read Slate would know the proper rules of typing, but you'd be wrong; every third e-mail I get from readers includes the two-space error. ...
(cont.@ http://www.slate.com/id/2281146 )
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I have been typing with two spaces after each period for about twenty years now; all my teachers from elementary through high school insisted on it (college professors didn't seem to care as long as you were consistent). It's instinct; trying to type with only one space is painful. I'm curious to get other thoughts on this? Have I really been typing everything wrong (including my cover letters?!) my entire life?

[knight_shadow]

I've never heard of anyone using two spaces. Interesting...

[33girl]

I used one space all through high school (although not really an issue since we were still HAND WRITING most things), until I was told in college that you should use two.

[agzg]

I believe it's leftover from typing typing (like, on a typewriter). Something about how if you only used one space, the way the period would go onto the paper was wonky and you needed to use two to signify the end of a sentence. Now that we're into computers and it's much more apparent what the end of a sentence is, only one is necessary, but I find myself using two all the time.

Even typing this little blurb with only one space between period and new sentence is proving difficult.

[AOII Angel]

I read this yesterday and was so happy to see it! I have to correct my reports everyday, and the question of one or two spaces has plagued me for a long time (though not enough to look it up!) I learned to type on an old manual typewriter (with no letters on the keys) that my middle school found somewhere and then on electric typewriters in "keyboarding" class in HS. It was drilled into our heads to space twice after the period at the end of a sentence but only once after a period for an abbreviation, etc. I never knew the rules changed with computer fonts. Nice to know! I'm OCD like that so this rule will go into immediate practice.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by DSTRen13

I have been typing with two spaces after each period for about twenty years now; all my teachers from elementary through high school insisted on it (college professors didn't seem to care as long as you were consistent). It's instinct; trying to type with only one space is painful. I'm curious to get other thoughts on this? Have I really been typing everything wrong (including my cover letters?!) my entire life?

You are typing correctly, at least as far as I'm concerned.

Actually. both are right. Two spaces follow a sentence in typewritten (as in done on a typewriter) in order to make the text easier to read. It's not required in typeset fonts, like one typically has in a word processing program, but it got carried over by the people who learned to type on typewriters. I know some word processing programs did (and perhaps still do) automatically replace a single space after a period with two spaces unless you set it not to. I still think two spaces is easier to read/looks better, especially given that proportional spacing will adjust it some anyway. Often with proportional spacing, one space just puts sentences too close together for my taste.

[RaggedyAnn]

The rule was two for those of us who learned on typewriters, but agzg is right about computers. I THINK it's because we are using different fonts now. Andy and I were talking about this last night, because a friend had posted about it on Facebook. He had never heard of the new rule and I wasn't aware of it until I took a Technical Writing class two years ago. Facebook, however, does autocorrect, which I had never noticed.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

You are typing correctly, at least as far as I'm concerned.

Actually. both are right. Two spaces follow a sentence in typewritten (as in done on a typewriter) in order to make the text easier to read. It's not required in typeset fonts, like one typically has in a word processing program, but it got carried over by the people who learned to type on typewriters. I know some word processing programs did (and perhaps still do) automatically replace a single space after a period with two spaces unless you set it not to. I still think two spaces is easier to read/looks better, especially given that proportional spacing will adjust it some anyway. Often with proportional spacing, one space just puts sentences too close together for my taste.

It was the opposite with me. Proportional spacing made the space too wide with two spaces after the period. This is what made me second guess the second space. My reports just looked weird with two spaces between each sentence. I started wondering if I'd just made up that rule...it had been 20 years since I took keyboarding so anything was possible!

[agzg]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

It was the opposite with me. Proportional spacing made the space too wide with two spaces after the period. This is what made me second guess the second space. My reports just looked weird with two spaces between each sentence. I started wondering if I'd just made up that rule...it had been 20 years since I took keyboarding so anything was possible!

Well even though we learned to type on computers in my school, they still weren't readily accessible (there was not a computer in every home, in fact, most people only ever saw a computer in the library or in the school when they were teaching us to type), so I think they tought us the old typists' rules rather than the new, especially if the "new" was still being worked out.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by agzg

Well even though we learned to type on computers in my school, they still weren't readily accessible (there was not a computer in every home, in fact, most people only ever saw a computer in the library or in the school when they were teaching us to type), so I think they tought us the old typists' rules rather than the new, especially if the "new" was still being worked out.

I'm still in shock that it's been 20 years (really 22) since I took keyboarding in 9th grade! I'm getting old!

[honeychile]

The only person to insist that I switch to one space between sentences is such a disgusting cretin that I would have to have a thunderbolt to ever consider using one.SPACESPACEI will continure in my present form until the day I die.

[agzg]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

I'm still in shock that it's been 20 years (really 22) since I took keyboarding in 9th grade! I'm getting old!

16 going on 17 for me but that's because we started in the 4th grade (at least the school got that right - kids need to learn to type earlier and earlier). They just weren't around a lot because I'm from a really backwards (at least economically) area that didn't get broadband internet until 2000. There are still towns in my area that don't have access to broadband internet.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by agzg

16 going on 17 for me but that's because we started in the 4th grade (at least the school got that right - kids need to learn to type earlier and earlier). They just weren't around a lot because I'm from a really backwards (at least economically) area that didn't get broadband internet until 2000. There are still towns in my area that don't have access to broadband internet.

My middle school was a very small, private, Christian school. I have no idea where they got the manual typewriters that we were taught on, but I did take typing in the 8th grade. Even with no letters on the keys, my teacher would tape a piece of paper over my hands so I could look at my fingers on the keys. People are amazed at how well I type. My poor sister never took typing...she is the classic hunt and peck style typist. Pitiful!

[honeychile]

My typing teacher was also my home room teacher. She was forever telling college bound students that most of the teachers agreed that typing was the one high school class they appreciated the most.


PS: FWIW, she was a ChiO.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

It was the opposite with me. Proportional spacing made the space too wide with two spaces after the period. This is what made me second guess the second space. My reports just looked weird with two spaces between each sentence.

I realize I should have been more specific. I tend (for work at least) to use full justification rather than left margin justification. It's the combination of full justification and proporational spacing that can push the sentences too close together if there's only one space.