4 ms·

Without touching on the rest of the article, can we please stop bashing on the use of two spaces after a full stop? It makes new sentences much more distinct.

• criddell 4y ago
  HTML ignores multiple spaces and since HN is built on HTML, I’d guess that’s why it’s happening.
• Veen 4y ago
  It makes sentence boundaries more distinct, but a period and a single space already makes them sufficiently distinct, provided you aren’t using a monospaced font. The argument against double-spacing is not that fails to achieve its goal, but that it is unnecessary.
• bombcar 4y ago
  Double spacing after a period works best in a fixed font or typewriter. With a variable width font and justification it’s not as noticeable or useful. Of course, justification may have no justification itself.
• jrochkind1 4y ago
  > Edit: I note that HN automatically compresses my double spaces to single ones. Sigh. That's what HTML does with ordinary consecutive spaces, not an HN choice. It's been this way for the entire history of HTML I believe. If you see anything else on the web (which I think you rarely will), the text set in HTML has unusual whitespace characters in it, either entered manually or algorithmically. Or maybe using some unusual application of CSS `white-space`, I'm not sure if there's a way to use that to preserve your inter-sentance whitespace without other probably undesirable side effects.
• maxerickson 4y ago
  If you are using a typesetting engine, you will likely get the best results by following whatever practice it recommends.