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Subject:re Spaces after periods? From:"nosnivel -at- netvision -dot- net -dot- il" <nosnivel -at- netvision -dot- net -dot- il> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Sun, 20 Nov 2005 10:37:01 -0500
Geoff writes:
> The question then becomes whether this is a valid approach given modern
> proportional fonts with variable-width characters. The answer is most
> likely that the double space no longer helps;
I don't see the logic there. If, as Geoff says, we don't start
assembling meaning until we hit the end of the sentence, then
we don't start assembling meaning earlier just because the font
is proportional. In my opinion, the elimination of the extra
space between sentences harms readability, but the proportional
type itself increases readability to a degree that more than
offsets the inter-sentence problem. Thus proportional type
without extra space between sentences is more readable than
fixed-width type with the extra space, but proportional type
with the extra space is most readable of all. The rivers are
just a bugaboo: if hyphenation and justification are handled
reasonably, your text will be dry of rivers.
On the other hand, the confederacy of single-spacers is
certainly not a gang that you want to take on lightly.
Mark L. Levinson
Herzliya, Israel
nosnivel -at- netvision -dot- net -dot- il
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