Quote: Original post by sunandshadow
Publishers expect two spaces after periods, it makes printed text easier to read. They will tell you you're doing it wrong if you send them a manuscript with single spaces between sentences.

Uhm. Tell me you're joking. You're joking, right? I thought that idiotic two space rule was a holdover from typewriters, before people invented computerized typesetting systems that can correctly position a period-space pair. Surely people aren't still using that absurd (and completely wrong looking) double-space in production?

Besides, last I checked publishers take most of their manuscripts as badly typed Word documents and have to do a complete reformat and relayout. At least the publishing companies I know, the authors involved are nowhere near competent enough to follow any rules at all. But they're university professors.

[Edited by - Promit on May 25, 2010 11:34:34 PM]

Quote: Original post by Promit
Surely people aren't still using that in production?

Probably one of those "you're stilling using IE6?!?!" type of moments.

Quote: However, many still believe that double spaces are correct. The debate continues,[3] notably on the World Wide Web—as many people use search engines to try to find what is correct.[11] Many people prefer double sentence spacing for informal use because that was how they were taught to type.[12] There is a debate on which convention is more legible, and the few recent direct studies have produced inconclusive results.[13]

Most modern literature on typography says that double spacing is wrong,[14] but some non-typographical sources indicate that it could be used on a typewriter or with a monospaced font.[15] Most style guides opt for a single space after terminal punctuation for final and published work, with a few permitting double spacing in draft manuscripts and for specific circumstances based on personal preference.[16] Grammar and design guides, including Web design guides, provide similar guidance.[17]
(source)

I thought that was pretty funny seeing as I used Google to find it.

At some point in the past I had it pounded into my head that you should always use double-space after full-stops, so I'm afraid that I'll never get over that habit -- single-space just feels wrong to me now [sad]

It's also part of the MLA style, which is something else I was taught almost religiously in early English classes. Ironic though, since I don't remember this rule:

Quote: Leave only one space after periods or other punctuation marks (unless otherwise instructed by your instructor).

Quote: Original post by MaulingMonkey
Email has often interacted... poorly... with automatic word wrap.

It still does. I use Outlook at work and it is a pain in the ass to have it tabulating as I like. Not to mention reading mails sent from Lotus Notes.

Quote:
How come when some people post on forums, they press enter when the text reaches the edge
of the editing box? It's actually quite common, for what seems like a behaviour associated
with the mechanical typewriter.

I actually find it a lot easier to read a block
of text that stays within a particular field of view.
Having a 16:9 widescreen, the default wordwrap makes
people's text stupid long. On the OTHER hand, I could
(and often do) just shrink the browser window to make
the text a readable block size. I know I used to do that
a lot in these forums. That is until I got lazy, and
decided to mostly stop.

To each their own i guess?

(ok, so I got a little carried away with the newlines!)
(about 4-5 words wider than your latin quote is about the right width i think. And that is less than 1/3 of my
monitor width.)

Oh please stop doing that!

Every time I see people do that I can't help but read it in my mind as some form of dreadful beat poetry.

Quote: Original post by KulSeran

Quote:
How come when some people post on forums, they press enter when the text reaches the edge
of the editing box? It's actually quite common, for what seems like a behaviour associated
with the mechanical typewriter.

I actually find it a lot easier to read a block
of text that stays within a particular field of view.
Having a 16:9 widescreen, the default wordwrap makes
people's text stupid long. On the OTHER hand, I could
(and often do) just shrink the browser window to make
the text a readable block size. I know I used to do that
a lot in these forums. That is until I got lazy, and
decided to mostly stop.

To each their own i guess?

(ok, so I got a little carried away with the newlines!)
(about 4-5 words wider than your latin quote is about the right width i think. And that is less than 1/3 of my
monitor width.)

I tend to agree with this. There are a good amount of studies on what makes text easier to read, and shorter lines is one of them. That's why many magazines are written in three or four columns. There may be only 4-5 words per line, but it makes the reader feel much more engaged in the reading because they're making more vertical progress.

Quote: Original post by Promit

Quote: Original post by sunandshadow
Publishers expect two spaces after periods, it makes printed text easier to read. They will tell you you're doing it wrong if you send them a manuscript with single spaces between sentences.

Uhm. Tell me you're joking. You're joking, right? I thought that idiotic two space rule was a holdover from typewriters, before people invented computerized typesetting systems that can correctly position a period-space pair. Surely people aren't still using that absurd (and completely wrong looking) double-space in production?

Besides, last I checked publishers take most of their manuscripts as badly typed Word documents and have to do a complete reformat and relayout. At least the publishing companies I know, the authors involved are nowhere near competent enough to follow any rules at all. But they're university professors.

In every English class you attend, double spacing after a sentence is required, and you'll be counted off for grammar if you choose not to do so. Common used grammar/citation guidelines such as APA also require it.

Also, even though it doesn't look like it makes sense to double space after a period, having an italicized word at the end of a sentence, and non-italicized word at the beginning of a sentence in a large document can be rather hard to read.

Basically, it boils down to common practice in school systems -- It's what we're taught, why change it?