Are you a two-spacer?

by Volker Weber

Assange reverts to an antiquated habit that would not have been out of place in the secretarial pools of the 1950s: He uses two spaces after every period. Which—for the record—is totally, completely, utterly, and inarguably wrong.

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Comments

As somebody that was trained on an IBM Selectric I still to this day find that I cannot break the two spaces after a period habit.

Bruce Elgort, 2011-01-15

Hi, my name is Rob, and I'm a two-spacer.

Learned to type on a typewriter where it mattered, spent a lot of time programming in monospace fonts where it still mattered, not gonna change any time soon. The only reason they want one space is because they think it looks better. I don't agree. I think two spaces make sentences look better. The typographic weenies? They're just gonna have to get over it.

PS That being said, I've known for years that I'm wrong. I'm not *ignorant* - I'm just stubborn. heh...

Rob McDonagh, 2011-01-15

:-)

Volker Weber, 2011-01-15

Two spaces here as well.

I was formally taught to use two spaces back in the 80s so it's hardly a 50s thing like the article implies. Also any authority that makes a decision, but doesn't have the influence to actually share their decision, so schools start teaching it that way, isn't really much of an authority.

Tim Paque, 2011-01-15

I took typing in high school decades ago. Learned two spaces just like you guys. Then many years back I read, Read "Looking Good In Print", and consciously retrained myself to use only one space. Took maybe a month. It wasn't that hard.

Maybe you guys just like coming across as unable to learn ways to do things. Good luck with that.

Timothy Briley, 2011-01-15

+1 Mr Briley

Learned on a manual typewriter in high school, taught by a strict Brother who was unafraid to use his ruler if you held your hands incorrectly.

Retrained myself in college after realizing it made me look ignorant.

Craig Wiseman, 2011-01-15

As an author of stories and novels, I run into the heated debate all the time. There are those who feel strong one way is right, those who feel strongly the other way is right. People argue that the two-space convention was only mandated because of typesetting, and others who argue that it was to make a better appearance.

As for me, I was trained to use two spaces, but am very glad to live in an age where I can run a quick macro and conform to whichever form the publisher wants. It's a silly thing to worry about, but many spend a goodly amount of time doing just that.

Ben Langhinrichs, 2011-01-15

HTML takes care of the double-space and replaces it with a single one. Unless your CMS thinks it knows better and adds an #160 char after the space. It's a silly thing to do, but many spend a goodly amount of time doing just that. :-)

Volker Weber, 2011-01-15

'Every modern typographer agrees on the one-space rule' - simply not true.

Amazing how judgmental and aggravated people can get about this sort of stuff. What is described as the 'ugly error' of 'ignorant' two-spacing is seen all over the place, precisely because sometimes it fits the context, and fits the requirements of publication.

That's  what  I  think  anyway.  .  .  .

Nick Daisley, 2011-01-15

One space or two, this is, IMHO, a funny idea. I've never given it a thought. Until now. Like many of you, I learned to type on a manual typewriter, moved to electric. During that time, I was a two spacer,. After moving on to MultiMate, I became a one spacer. I think it had more to do with proportional type than being "correct."

MultiMate. I'm really dating myself. :-)

Gregg Eldred, 2011-01-15

Okay, now let’s talk about curly braces and indentation... :-)

Ulli Mueller, 2011-01-15

on iOS insert two spaces in any text and you get a period.

Dimitri Prosper, 2011-01-17

I thought I would provide a further contribution to this discussion - even if, by doing so, I am demonstrating obsessive behaviour myself.

Nick Daisley, 2011-01-18

It's an old argument. Do you ever have to learn new things or can you just continue shitting your diapers.

Volker Weber, 2011-01-18

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