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Subject:two spaces vs. one From:Susan Fowler <sfowler -at- EJV -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 26 May 1995 09:06:11 EDT
Re: "All the lessons and books we used in the typing courses I took (for all the
good the typing portions themselves did me) said to use double-spacing after
the punctuation at the end of a sentence."
Right. Double-space when you are TYPING text using a monospaced typeface. With a
monospaced face--Courier or Elite--on a typewriter, the extra space is a good
visual cue in the _absence_ of other cues. Every letter in a monospaced
typeface is the same size--ergo, a general lack of the shapeliness (and visual
cues) that a typeset word will have.
There is absolutely no need to double-space when you are TYPESETTING or using
desktop publishing. And, in fact, my typesetter friends tell me that
double-spacing prevents typesetting programs from adjusting word spacing
correctly. The two-en space creates a hard space.
So, one can double-space if one likes, but personally I prefer to follow the
advice of professionals.
