A good friend Facebooked me about my post on how many spaces should really come directly after ending punctuation. And then I did an online search for this new-found information and found even more — albeit related — ammunition against anything more than one space after a period. Here goes.

My wise friend, a co-worker twice over, had this to add to the one-space-rules argument:

“Two spaces were for back in the day of printer block type and manual typesetting; it was considered the appropriate amount of block. Now in the modern desktop publishing days, our software programs adjust the “kerning” and tracking for us, so only one space is necessary between sentences.”

Aha! That makes sense. And all the research I subsequently did supports that statement:

• Most browsers today (2010) only render one space after a period, no matter how many spaces are entered in HTML code.
• Most fonts today are proportional — meaning that the characters are different sizes (primarily concerning width). Courier is the most widely used exception.
• Old-school typewriters used monospaced fonts, necessitating the use of double spaces for ease of readability.
• Designers, typographers and writers alike eschew double spaces because of the so-called “rivers” of white space created by this double-space convention.
• Designers, typographers and writers alike are aggravated by onscreen displays because they often automatically destroy any efforts at a good-looking piece of writing.

So there it is, folks — one space after ending punctuation, pretty please.

As a bonus in the readability department, studies have proven that applying the bold feature to small amounts of text helps with readability. Back in the day of typewriters, writers had to type over the words they wanted bold (or darker). Do you remember that? And in this age of scanning what is read and multitasking, bolding words to help the reader get the gist of what you want to convey makes even more sense. Just don’t go overboard with it.

Happy trails!

SAK

Below, the entry that spurred this updated entry:

Indeed, that is apparently the question that never gets answered.

As an editor, time and again I delete extra spaces after periods, much to the chagrin of the writer.

“Two!” they moan. “I was taught that two spaces follow a period.”

I feel for them. I really do. I was taught that same rule in school. The education system follows the Modern Language Association (MLA) guidelines, which stipulate two spaces after every period. Frankly, I’m not sure why two spaces are required. My guess is that those who made the rules back in the day thought that it helped the readability of the piece.

Once I graduated, though, the real world insisted that two spaces after any ending punctuation (period, question mark, exclamation point) was too much real estate. Space is, after all, at a premium across such mediums as newspapers and magazines, so that second space was a luxury that bit the proverbial dust.

And it was a hard habit to break — at least for me. But break it I did. So, while I understand the frustration of those who haven’t yet been influenced by the almighty AP Stylebook — the grammar bible of journalists, advertising agencies and professional writers — I also know that they can kick the second space to the curb as well as I did.

So when my writer friends hand me an article or ad or whatnot and ask me to edit it, I write “universal change” at the top of the page with “only one space after each ending punctuation mark.”

Aren’t ex-two-spaces-after-periods people the worst?

Happy trails!

That’s how I learned it.

That period-double-space thing was for school term papers, tests and such. And it was for the birds. Why in the world would we knowingly force our thumb to do the unnatural act of pressing down on the space bar twice at one shot? We were told that it helped the reader by providing more of a visual stop. Really? That black spot at the end of a decently written sentence isn’t enough of a clarification that the sentence is done, so a little extra white space should do the trick? Hmmm. Suspect.

In today’s fast-paced, cram-it-all-in society, that white space has been nudged out. And I, for one, am happy about that.

Although I do see a lot of period-double-space configurations in my editing work, the publishing tool that I currently work with mysteriously (and thankfully) eliminates one of those spaces — I don’t care which one, just that one is, indeed, obliterated, thank you very much.

Just remember that the English language morphs as it goes along, so it’s now OK to throw caution to the wind and only include one space after the ending punctuation. And if you happen to run into your middle school teacher, smile sweetly and say that you have fond memories of those days.

Happy trails!

SAK