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One thing that doesn't get brought up is that there is a difference between typewriter and word processor. One space works best in proportional fonts with types

One thing that doesn't get brought up is that there is a difference between typewriter and word processor. One space works best in proportional fonts with typeset work. Two spaces work best in monospace fonts like text editor. The reason is that in typeset, the space after periods is wider than space between words, while in monospace need to put extra space to distinguish sentences. I think that some of the conflict comes from when and where people learned the rule. Before computers, people used typewriters and were taught to use two spaces after period. Typesetters knew to use the right space. Early computers were mostly monospace. Word processors introduced variable fonts and were smart enough to collapse two spaces. Email and text editors were monospace. The web made everything proportional and collapsed two spaces to one hiding any difference in source. One space has won enough that people use one space in monospace text.

joegahona 3y ago
This is covered in the "The PC Is Not a Typewriter"[1], by Robin Williams. (No, not that Robin Williams.) I adjusted from two spaces to one back in 1999 or so, when I read this book, and the adjustment wasn't as painful as I thought it'd be. I learned on a typewriter in the late '80s. For some reason, Stephen King uses two spaces between each word in his Tweets.[2] Not sure if this is some statement he's making or a technical glitch. [1] https://www.amazon.com/PC-Not-Typewriter-Creating-Professional-Level/dp/0938151495 https://www.amazon.com/PC-Not-Typewriter-Creating-Profession... [2] https://twitter.com/StephenKing/status/1678579628686946304?s=20 https://twitter.com/StephenKing/status/1678579628686946304?s...
- distcs 3y ago
  > I adjusted from two spaces to one back in 1999 or so, when I read this book, and the adjustment wasn't as painful as I thought it'd be. Did you switch from two spaces to one space while writing in a text editor using monospace font too?
  - joegahona 3y ago
    > Did you switch from two spaces to one space while writing in a text editor using monospace font too? Yes, I switched to one space no matter what, but my use of monospaced fonts was rare back then. Even today I use only one space after periods, even when using monospace fonts. HN is an interesting case: The input field in comments is (I think?) monospace, but the output of posts is Verdana, which is not monospace.
gdwatson 3y ago
Historically English-language typography, in contrast to French typography, used a larger space between sentences than between words. Typists imitated this traditional style. The single-space style gained typograhic ground through the twentieth century, becoming the norm in the 1950s. Preferring a single space between sentences is a reasonable choice. But flagging or "correcting" the two-space style is simply a mistake.
opello 3y ago
> One thing that doesn't get brought up... Except it was brought up in the 3rd message[0] of the linked thread. > Typists follow the rule of adding an extra space between sentences within a paragraph. The rule for books (and by extension, anything that does not use a fixed-pitch, monospaced font) is to use the same space between sentences as between words. [0] http://1997.webhistory.org/www.lists/www-talk.1993q3/0024.html http://1997.webhistory.org/www.lists/www-talk.1993q3/0024.ht...
- DanielKehoe 3y ago
  Yes, I wrote that message 30 years ago. I actually had copies of both "Words into Type" and the "Chicago Manual of Style" on my desk when I wrote that message because I had worked in the publishing industry as a copy editor before getting involved in the tech industry. Some publishing houses had their own style guides or were inconsistent from book to book (like O'Reilly), but WIT and Chicago were the accepted authorities. Whether the conventions of the book industry should have guided technologies like web browsers is a matter for debate, but at the time I wanted to make the point that two spaces after a period were typists' habit and not a publishing convention. I'm amazed that this point is still debated so passionately when most people have never touched a typewriter.

joegahona 3y ago

This is covered in the "The PC Is Not a Typewriter"[1], by Robin Williams. (No, not that Robin Williams.) I adjusted from two spaces to one back in 1999 or so, when I read this book, and the adjustment wasn't as painful as I thought it'd be. I learned on a typewriter in the late '80s. For some reason, Stephen King uses two spaces between each word in his Tweets.[2] Not sure if this is some statement he's making or a technical glitch. [1] https://www.amazon.com/PC-Not-Typewriter-Creating-Professional-Level/dp/0938151495 https://www.amazon.com/PC-Not-Typewriter-Creating-Profession... [2] https://twitter.com/StephenKing/status/1678579628686946304?s=20 https://twitter.com/StephenKing/status/1678579628686946304?s...

distcs 3y ago
> I adjusted from two spaces to one back in 1999 or so, when I read this book, and the adjustment wasn't as painful as I thought it'd be. Did you switch from two spaces to one space while writing in a text editor using monospace font too?
- joegahona 3y ago
  > Did you switch from two spaces to one space while writing in a text editor using monospace font too? Yes, I switched to one space no matter what, but my use of monospaced fonts was rare back then. Even today I use only one space after periods, even when using monospace fonts. HN is an interesting case: The input field in comments is (I think?) monospace, but the output of posts is Verdana, which is not monospace.

gdwatson 3y ago

Historically English-language typography, in contrast to French typography, used a larger space between sentences than between words. Typists imitated this traditional style. The single-space style gained typograhic ground through the twentieth century, becoming the norm in the 1950s. Preferring a single space between sentences is a reasonable choice. But flagging or "correcting" the two-space style is simply a mistake.

opello 3y ago

> One thing that doesn't get brought up... Except it was brought up in the 3rd message[0] of the linked thread. > Typists follow the rule of adding an extra space between sentences within a paragraph. The rule for books (and by extension, anything that does not use a fixed-pitch, monospaced font) is to use the same space between sentences as between words. [0] http://1997.webhistory.org/www.lists/www-talk.1993q3/0024.html http://1997.webhistory.org/www.lists/www-talk.1993q3/0024.ht...

DanielKehoe 3y ago
Yes, I wrote that message 30 years ago. I actually had copies of both "Words into Type" and the "Chicago Manual of Style" on my desk when I wrote that message because I had worked in the publishing industry as a copy editor before getting involved in the tech industry. Some publishing houses had their own style guides or were inconsistent from book to book (like O'Reilly), but WIT and Chicago were the accepted authorities. Whether the conventions of the book industry should have guided technologies like web browsers is a matter for debate, but at the time I wanted to make the point that two spaces after a period were typists' habit and not a publishing convention. I'm amazed that this point is still debated so passionately when most people have never touched a typewriter.