A plague of double spaces

[tom b]

Forty years ago when I started B&W printing dust spots were evil and had to be spotted out.

Twenty years ago when I started basic typography on a computer double spaces especially after a period were also evil. If you look at any professionally designed book, magazine or website it is the same, one space after a period.

For some reason there seems to be an outbreak of users of this site that think we are in the age of the typewriter.

Please, one space after a period, you are hurting my eyes.

Cheers,

[BernardLanguillier]

Agreed!

Cheers,
Bernard

[Robert Roaldi]

That's only true in the English speaking world. Others may be used to 2 spaces.

[tom b]

That's only true in the English speaking world. Others may be used to 2 spaces.

This is an English speaking site.

Cheers,

[Wayne Fox]

hmmm.  having a bad day?  Sorry but I learned to type in 1969, and double spacing after a period was ingrained and a habit impossible to break by the time computers came along in the early 80's for me.  I guess you can set me to ignore so you don't have to see my doubles spaces.

I think  when writing posts most people don't worry too much about such things, and intersperse it with shortcuts and acronyms to save time.  At least LuLa isn't full of #hashtag addicts ... I assume you don't hang out on twitter much ... you'd prob. want to slit your wrists.

[tom b]

hmmm.  having a bad day?  Sorry but I learned to type in 1969, and double spacing after a period was ingrained and a habit impossible to break by the time computers came along in the early 80's for me.  I guess you can set me to ignore so you don't have to see my doubles spaces.

I think  when writing posts most people don't worry too much about such things, and intersperse it with shortcuts and acronyms to save time.  At least LuLa isn't full of #hashtag addicts ... I assume you don't hang out on twitter much ... you'd prob. want to slit your wrists.

I worked as an illustrator for fourteen years, mainly the type of illustrations that you would find in a Science textbook. If I sent out an illustration with a double space in it then it would bounce back to me very quickly for correction.

Two spaces after a period was designed for monospaced type such as in typewriters. I haven't used a typewriter in over twenty years as I guess have the vast majority of LuLa users. What I don't understand is why over the last month or so there seems to be an increase in the number of people using double spaces not a decrease.

So please, use one space, think of all the keystrokes you will save…

Oh, an ellipsis (…) is one character, alt 0133 on a PC and option ; on a Mac, but I will leave that rant alone as it is a war that I will never win.

Cheers,

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

To … or to ... ; that is the question.

[SunnyUK]

This is why HTML ignores superfluous white space.  It was designed to separate layout and content.  So instead of moaning about people who write the way they want and like, moan about crappy forum software which can't even do the simplest presentation conversions. 

In the word processor age, I still like to double tap the spacebar after a full stop, and double tap the enter key after a paragraph.  Completely unnecessary as the software can format really well on its own, but the audible and sensory feedback of the double tap is very pleasing.  It feels final. 

[Floyd Davidson]

Twenty years ago when I started basic typography on a computer double spaces especially after a period were also evil. If you look at any professionally designed book, magazine or website it is the same, one space after a period.

Sorry, but I just can't buy into the claim that it was "evil".  I started doing typography (nroff, groff and TeX) on computers 30 years ago and to this date I still see nothing "evil", either with 2 spaces. 1 space, or 1-1/2 spaces (granted I distinctly dislike no space).  Which I use depends on what the work is supposed to look like.  I'm the kind of guy that literally goes over things with a magnifying glass, and might move parens up or down a point or two, commonly moves the dash in a telephone number up or down a point or two, and yes I use different spacing between sentences.

Which is to say that I am extremely critical about the form of work that I produce.

For some reason there seems to be an outbreak of users of this site that think we are in the age of the typewriter.

Please, one space after a period, you are hurting my eyes.

Oh, Puleeze!

I could care less whether someone else uses two spaces or one after a period. It's a matter of personal style, there is no right or wrong as such.  If the boss, or the specified style guide, says this or that, do it.  Otherwise, take your pick.  Who cares!

And note that almost all style guides will say that 1 space is more common, and 2 spaces is not wrong.

[daws]

A screenwriter friend of long acquaintance doublespaces at the end of every sentence, and proudly proclaims that it fills pages faster with fewer words.

For 29 years it has been my honor and duty to scrupulously single-space, just to piss him off. 

[OldRoy]

Compared to the typographical atrocity constituted by a layout of 100+ sans serif characters per line, WOB, the odd double space after a stop hardly registers.
 
Is  allowed?
Roy

[john beardsworth]

I happen to prefer single spaces, but the lines here are much wider than in a newspaper column, so double spaces are much less liable to produce the gaps on successive lines which negatively impact a paragraph's readability. So I find it hard to see how they bear comparison with dust spots. However, misused apostrophes....

[Chairman Bill]

I could care less ...

No, it's 'I couldn't care less', as in 'I care so little that it would be impossible to care less about this topic'. As for how many spaces you have after a full-stop/period, I couldn't care less.

[BernardLanguillier]

That's only true in the English speaking world. Others may be used to 2 spaces.

Nope, it is the same in French for example.

Cheers,
Bernard

[Floyd Davidson]

No, it's 'I couldn't care less', as in 'I care so little that it would be impossible to care less about this topic'. As for how many spaces you have after a full-stop/period, I couldn't care less.

I could care less about that too, but as with the previous situation it's more trouble than I'm willing to exert.

[Floyd Davidson]

Compared to the typographical atrocity constituted by a layout of 100+ sans serif characters per line, WOB, the odd double space after a stop hardly registers.

And that actually is something to be concerned about!

[JeanMichel]

To anyone interested in typography, I suggest obtaining a copy of The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst. It is a most useful reference, written by a typographer and poet.
Jean-Michel

[Alan Klein]

I like two spaces.  The pause that refreshes.

[Alan Klein]

Which program adds a period automatically if you double space?  The program assumes you missed typing the period.

[rosswarner@rosswarner.com]

iPhone translates double space as period + space.