So while not working today, and after my well pump burned up, I was sitting in my study contemplating life when I came across this interesting tidbit of knowledge.
The piece of knowledge is this. Your typing teacher was a moron. You do not need two spaces after a period. I'll let the short article I read speak for itself.
they [writers] should in fact regard it [a computer] as a phototypesetter or printing press. To illustrate, when we learn to type we are taught that a period must be followed by two spaces. But open any professionally typeset book and you will see that only one space follows a period. According to author Robin Williams, the two-spaces-after-a-period rule was devised in order to counteract a problem created by the typewriter, which was that each character, including the tiny period, used the same amount of space and therefore made it difficult to distinguish where one sentence ended and another began. Since computers allow you to choose kerned fonts, in which the spacing between characters is relative to the character's size, you need only type one space after a period. The use of two spaces creates ugly rivers of white space.
I found that pretty interesting, especially since I was taught to type on a computer. In my senior year I learned to type on an IBM 386 with Word Perfect, back when word perfect was a blue screen with white font.
Well, let's see if that is ineed true:
This sentance is typed. It is typed with two spaces after the period. There are two periods.
This sentance is also typed. It is typed with only one space after the period. There are two periods.
Which one looks better?
Posted by psugrad98 at June 28, 2005 02:59 PM | TrackBack
