TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Why is this a problem? Leaving 2 spaces after a period at the end of
a sentence seems to be a sensible way of improving readability. Or
is this an old typist's habit that the computer age has solved
somehow?
Two spaces after a period was common when the state of the art was a
manual typewriter and monospaced fonts. Yes, it was done to improve
readability and it seemed to work in that environment.
It seems so totally silly today, when most of us have access to
printing/composition equipment that is at least a little more high
tech than the old manual Royal with those jammin' keys.
-------------------
I've presented documents with both one space and two spaces, as a test, to a
group of my users. I create my documents using Word 6, and output using 600
dpi printers.
By almost 3 to 1, they prefered two spaces after a period. I do too.
Therefore, that's what I use.
John Posada
Technical Proposal Writer
Bell Communications Research, Piscataway, NJ
(908) 699-5839 (W)
jposada -at- notes -dot- cc -dot- bellcore -dot- com (W)
"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that
one word is 'to be prepared'"
- Vice President Dan Quayle 11/30/1988
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I don't speak for my employer and they return the favor
--------------------------------------------------------------------
TECHWR-L List Information
To send a message about technical communication to 2500+ list readers,
E-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send administrative commands
ALL other questions or problems concerning the list
should go to the listowner, Eric Ray, at ejray -at- ionet -dot- net -dot-