Worst Documentation and Other Clowns

[Moshe Koenig <alsacien -at- NETVISION -dot- NET -dot- IL>]

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E-mail: alsacien -at- netvision -dot- net -dot- il
Date: 07/13/96
Time: 19:20:49

I've read all the discussion over the practice of double-spacing after
a period. I was taught to do that when I studied typing in high school
and I continued to do so until 1994, when someone pointed out to me
that Microsoft did not adhere to that practice. (Again, Microsoft
sets the standard for the world.) Although Ventura always gave me a
no-break space symbol for the double-space and Frame always balked,
it doesn't change the fact that I felt that it made the text easier 
to read. Years ago, it was the standard, even for text that used the
now-shunned fully justified margins (which Microsoft also uses).

The problem is that somehow many people in the market today regard
any typist who double-spaces after a period as being very 
unprofessional. I did a bid for a tender a year ago in which the
manager of the project checked my document with a fine toothed comb
for this problem only! He marveled at the way I did not double-space
even once; what he didn't know was how long it took me to get used
to this change. I still don't think that the single space after the
period is desirable; the extra space lets you know that the sentence
really has ended! However, what the market demands is what we do, 
right? I've yet to see the technical writer who'll forego a contract
because the client wants single spaces after the periods!

- Moshe

Fin d'émission
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