On 10/03/2014 05:37 PM, Bertrand Garrigues wrote:
It's OK for me to use 2 spaces after a full sentence. But I'm not used
to it, I've always been taught to use a single-space after a full stop
(French spacing ?!). I've just noticed that a lot of people on the list
use 2 spaces after a full stop. What is the main reason ? I googled on
this subject, I found out that two spaces are more traditional but less
and less used. Also, isn't groff by default displaying a single space
after a full stop ?
Regards,
Two spaces at end of sentence is standard US usage on typewriters, and
has been for a century or longer.
But when Microsoft came along with Word, they apparently decided to use
a single space that's the same as inter-word spacing. The book printing
industry hasn't always been consistent, from what I can tell,
but I found a magazine from 1950 where the spacing after the stop at
the end of the sentence is a bit wider than between words, though it's
hard to tell with spacing varied by left- and right-hand margins both
being adjusted.
In the magazine, the end-of-sentence appears to be about 1.2 or perhaps
1.4 times the word spacing. I use the groff ".ss" request to set my
end-of-sentence spacing to 1.66 times inter-word spacing.
I find it easier to read because I read fast. But most mass-produced
books for the US consumer market seem to use the same spacing
throughout, regardless of adjusted or ragged-right justification.
I suspect a lot of the reason, if there is one, is because so many
newcomers to publishing have what I think is a deficient education from
a decaying public education system declining literacy in the USA due
to more and more dependence on online communication and social media.
Clarke
