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Subject:Two spaces after a full stop From:"Peter Ring, PRC" <prc -at- PIP -dot- DKNET -dot- DK> Date:Wed, 17 Jul 1996 10:19:59 +1
A final answer to Robert Plamondon and Jim Morgan:
I am of course fully aware of the traditions and rules of
typography, which by the way is based on traditions and experiences
far older than Gutenberg (see e.g. the beautiful old handwritten
Bibles, Korans, etc.) I have also a lot of respect for the very
skilled professional typographers, from whom most of us can still
learn a lot when using DTP. I have learned a lot from working with
them, and I intend to continue learning from them.
As an example of the advantage of 2 spaces, note the "etc.) I" in
the paragraph above! I know I could have added an extra ".", but I
intentionally didn't.
But when I read your notes today, I came to think of the New York
patent agent who closed his shop in 1898, because now there wasn't
any more to be invented. Improvements come from people daring to
break new ways. If an improvement is experienced as an improvement
to just some people, it will survive. If not, it will die. Without
improvements we would still be below the monkeys, who use tools.
Two spaces adds typically 5-10% more spaces to a normal text, and
consequently adds very little to the white rivers on left adjusted
text. On fully adjusted text in narrow columns it could be a
disaster. But the general tendency today goes towards left adjusted
text, which by more and more experts (and I agree) is considered to
be easier to read. Even newspapers are using it more and more now.
My point was and is simply: If just SOME people find two spaces
more USER FRIENDLY, and the disadvantages are small or nill, why not
use it for left adjusted text?
Greetings from Denmark
Peter Ring
PRC - specialist in user friendly manuals and quality measurements on
manuals.
prc -at- pip -dot- dknet -dot- dk http://www.pip.dknet.dk/~pip323/index.htm
- homepage on user friendly instruction manuals with tips for
instruction manual writers.
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