2 ms·
Every rule we have about spelling and punctuation is arbitrary, yet I notice you follow current arbitrary convention in your post. We agree on convention, and
by antidoh 14y ago
Every rule we have about spelling and punctuation is arbitrary, yet I notice you follow current arbitrary convention in your post.
We agree on convention, and on arbiters of convention like the Chicago Manual of Style cited in the article, because of convenience. Seeing words spelled the same way means that we can see the words and move on, rather than the letters as we try to figure out, however briefly, what word is being spelled.
Convention is good, however arbitrary. If fussy people at the CMS said to use two spaces then I would. But they say one, and I move with the well understood herd.
- sp332 14y agoHTML generally renders any number of spaces as a single space. (Try it!) I often put two spaces in proportional fonts, but I don't usually put two spaces after a period in monospace (which is the font HN uses for editing posts) because it's already pretty wide. I don't complain if people use other styles though. The article is adamant that everyone is wrong. "Why you should never, ever use it" says the title. Except for old publications, or if you're using a monospaced or very irregular font, says the body. Or really any time we feel like it, say the typographers. He derides the opposition as being equally arbitrary, not actually any worse.
- antidoh 14y agoI took the author's hysterics as just a literary tool to make a point in an interesting way. I doubt if he's worried about a two-spaced apocalypse.