One space, or two?
By Kathleen Bolton | July 13, 2009 |
There’s a controversy raging. It’s so divisive, it threatens the stability of our tranquil household. The issue at hand: Do you type one space or two after each sentence?
I’m a two-spacer. My husband does one. Epic doesn’t begin to describe the battles we’ve had over this. We even missed an episode of the Simpson’s arguing over it, and we are not arguers. We usually just agree to disagree, though I think we’re both mostly too lazy to argue.
But this one. Whoof.
So we’re taking it to the blog (poll under the jump!).
Here’s Ken’s argument:
“Grab any book or magazine off your shelf and look at the text. Notice how many spaces are between the sentences? One. Yet a great many people insist on using two spaces between sentences in their writing. This convention originated way back in the typewriter era, when all fonts were monospaced, meaning they took up the same amount of space on a page. So a lowercase “i” took up the same amount of space on a page as an uppercase “W.” Today, computerized fonts are proportional (unless you intentionally select a monspace font like Courier) so the spaces for each letter are determined by the width of the letter.
“This makes it much easier for the human eye to process words and sentences because our brain forms relationships between letters instead of reading them one at a time. Proportional fonts create the necessary visual separation between sentences so the extra space is no longer needed. I’m no typography expert but I often depend on the Chicago Manual of Style for basic guidelines. Chapter six, section three states: “In typeset matter, one space, not two (in other words, a regular word space), follows any mark of punctuation that ends a sentence, whether a period, a colon, a question mark, an exclamation point, or closing quotation marks.
“Still not convinced? Here are a couple more good reasons to use one space between sentences: it saves paper and it saves a lot of spacebar strokes. I think even our old typing class instructors would agree that this make sense.”
Here’s my argument:
“I like the way a body of text looks with two spaces after each sentence. I’ve been typing two spaces ever since being asked to do so in graduate school by an adviser. The dude had like seven Ph.Ds and had published more articles than anyone else in the department, so I listened to him.
“I also dislike reading crunched up sentences. Sometimes you need an extra space.
“Plus, I’m used to it. No one’s ever shown me proof that two extra spaces have killed more trees.”
What’s your style: one space or two? Take the poll and leave a comment on this weighty issue.
Image by emsvangoth.
Kathleen Bolton is co-founder of Writer Unboxed. She writes under a variety of pseudonyms, including Ani Bolton.
She has written two novels as Cassidy Calloway: Confessions of a First Daughter, and Secrets of a First Daughter–both books in a YA series about the misadventures of the U.S. President’s teen-aged daughter, published by HarperCollins, and Tamara Blake, for the novel Slumber.
Crappy poll. Both sides can answer Yes. I’m a two-spacer, always have been, always will be. One space comes after a comma.
Poll fail.
I’m an one-spacer. I’ve never heard of this two space business. I used to have a friend though, and he was a NO SPACER.
Two spaces is ingrained deep in my being, but I’m trying to teach myself to switch. It makes me hate Word for showing that little squiggly line every time I mess up and put two spaces.
Add into that another aspect of the electronic medium: HTML. No matter how many spaced you put into HTML- 1, 5, 100- if you are using just spaces (rather than using the HTML code for a space), the browser will always only render one space. Thus, if you are writing for the web (or an eBook), using more than one space is simply wasting your time, as the reader will only see one.
I two space, but this is only from habit. If I submitted a piece for publication I would be sure to change all of the double spaces for singles. Aferall, if the Chicago Manual of Style says it then it must be true.
Cheers
Sorry about the poll FAIL. Got it off the interwebs [shrug].
The “period space space” routine is pretty well ingrained in me by now. It would probably take me a few months to change it, and a year to get rid of that habit completely.
The poll-fail has been fixed!
I’m a one spacer, though I used to be a two spacer.
One-spacer who used to be a two-spacer, because even in the 90s typing classes taught you to put two. Two spaces drives me nuts, but most people will still accept it (i.e., on a resume or in a manuscript). It’s a fierce debate, but probably unnecessarily so. :P
One space! Since my journalism days I’ve been one-spacing. Two spaces are no longer necessary for all the reasons your husband mentioned.
And, speaking as a co-editor for fiction at the e-zine Literary Mama, PLEASE use one space! I have to fix the two-spacer stories we publish because it messes up the formatting. With “find-replace” it’s not that HARD, but it’s sure a pleasure if I can skip that step.
Yes, in typing class in 1989 I was taught two spaces after a period. I got it out of my system in college when I was told that computer word processing only required one space. As a former proof/review person at a typesetter, two-spacers caused us lots and lots of problems. Your multi-doc prof was taught way, way back in the dark ages, so I can understand why he wanted it that way, though.
It’s great to have a forum for these weighty issues. Just don’t get me started on the whole acronym vs. initialism thing!
I’m with Therese. I learned in typing class (during the aforementioned dark ages, on an actual typewriter with a hand-crank return) that two is proper. But I h8 writing n txt, 2. I’m open to change, though; I’d just need a very convincing argument.
Ack! I mean I’m with Kathleen!
Sorry, your husband is correct for the reasons you gave. I’m a graphic designer by day and I was taught in college (mid 90s) that the double space was out and we only use single spaces. Working as a designer, I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve wasted removing extra spaces from copy because the person writing it refused to adapt. Habit does not make it correct. :P
I can understand if you prefer it visually, and maybe that just means the font is too condensed, but for the sake of designers, please switch to one.
My original edumacation (way back in 1993) in typing said two-spaces at the end of every sentence, so that was my method until a couple of years ago when I “heard” editors prefer one-space only. So I retrained myself and haven’t looked back since.
I use one-space because it’s what I was taught and what I am used to. I do that because we generally have one space between each word, so why should a period be any different?
I used to be a two-spacer, but the convention here at work is one, so I’m converting. I still have to find and replace all my double-spaces, though. It’s a hard habit to break.
I did two spaces for years and years, since my mom told me that was the right way to do it. Then suddenly I started hearing laments of two-spaced manuscripts. I asked people to weigh in on Twitter and the majority said one-space was standard now… except I keep hearing things that it’s two-spaces for academic? Or something.
I decided to see if I could switch, and was rather surprised that leaving only one space stuck after a handful of days.
i didn’t realize this was an issue for divorce court. i was taught two space, but yes, with typesetting, one is enough. but i admit, i do both. but doesn’t auto formatting sort of overrule double spacing?
I learned the two-space mode, but switched to one space after learning that words set in type use only one. It does take less space–now, when I receive a manuscript to edit that has two spaces after sentences, I do a global search/replace so it “looks” right to me. Since your text is sooner or later going to be “one-spaced,” why not learn to see your manuscript as readers ultimately will?
Beware…
Many of the reasoning behind this ‘two-spaced’ deal has been lost in modern days. It used to be (not very long ago…) that the spacing between those ‘dots’ were specific in pertaining to how it was used. Many rules were developed to keep each instance of using them as being easily recognizable. This has been lost to us.
Lists
A. Something
(one space)
Sentence
…the end. NOT!
(two spaces)
Abbreviations
R.S.V.P.
(no spaces)
OR
…blah, blah, etc. all make good examples. Not anymore.
(one space – but new sentence starts with two)
Even the usage of ‘et cetera’ has had some changes, partly due to this spacing silliness; though most of everything is accepted as ‘correct’ anyway.
The truth is that there is no single standard that is correct, unless dictated so. Each use of typing has it’s own reasons for doing things the way it does.
I learned typing on a typewriter, not a keyboard, so learned to type with two, but after writing so much in html and php for Website design and blog posts, I’ve taught myself to use one. Now, the spots where I’ve accidentally typed two in my manuscripts stand out like glaring typos!
Going from being a two-spacer to a one-spacer might help a little with carpal tunnel syndrome.
I really don’t like to read a document that’s been two-spaced. I find it a little jolting. I expect to find a lower case l (el) where the person should use a 1 (one).
I’m a two-spacer that has been bullied into using one space. What is the world coming too?
I like asdfg’s carpal tunnel argument. Very unboxed.
I was taught in high school to use two spaces, and it became a habit that I used all through college. I changed to using one space during grad school because of the proportional font issue. I thought it would be difficult to stop using two spaces, but it was surprisingly easy to remember to just use one.
I’m a book designer and get infuriated by two-spacers. Not only is it necessary to delete the extra space for typesetting, but it adds to the problem of rivers on the page. Writers must be aware that it’s not just their great, creative words that are read, but how they look on the page, even on a manuscript, for readers have sensitive eyes and if something is distracting from your words, your story could suffer. I also think is shows one’s age a bit or maybe typing education has not evolved.
I had to actually type something to find out! I am a two spacer by reflex. One space looks weird to me.
I was a two spacer but Word kept insisting on one space. Left to my own devices habit has me leaving two spaces. Now that I have read this post, I will be diligent to leave only one space.
Dennis typed what I was thinking about age. So after all the exercise, healthy eating, night cream, day cream, 100 SPF sunscreen, etc, I don’t want my double space issue to give me away. :)
Thanks for the post.
Ryan, major WORD.
Two spaces for me due to 1990s typing classes. However when submitting a manuscript, I check the guidelines to see whether the publisher has a preference for one or two and adjust (using search/replace) if necessary.
Depends on the context. For newspaper copy editing I used one because Chicago Manual dictated that. For school, I used two, because that’s what my typing teacher taught me, and I had profs who marked one space as a punctuation error. Two spaces has carried over into business and personal. I confess I still tend to use the “no comma before last item in a series” from my copy editing days. For some reason it looks cleaner to me, but other people often correct it. Technically, I believe it’s incorrect outside of news copy.
In typing class, people are taught two spaces.
In book publishing, you use one.
If your manuscript has two spaces after a period, just about the first thing the editor or copyeditor will do is use Search and Replace to change them all to one.
To me, it’s much more professional to submit a book manuscript with one space than two. You’re saving the editor/copyeditor a step, and making it look like you know what you’re doing.
And, oh, that last comma in a series thing – it’s called a serial comma. Some publishers use it; some don’t.
Sounds like quite a few people here don’t care about evidence. Sounds like those who like two spaces don’t want to change.
I say this sarcastically, but lightly:
I remember when you had to dial a phone, and then the phone changed to push buttons, and nowadays, you can even talk to your phone to make it dial. You can even use a computer to talk to people now. My guess is you folks still use dial phones.
There used to be a time when people wrote letters and used the postal service. But the internet with its email took over that. Probably not for you folks!
It’s amazing that you even use a computer or write a blog. I mean, that’s all new stuff, too. I remember in the 70s, we messed around with computers before they were actually useful.
You know, for hundreds upon hundreds of years, people used horses to travel. Cars have not been around that long. Should we have been so quick to get rid of horses?
It’s funny what people accept and what they don’t. Are we really arguing about one space versus two spaces? Do you really not understand that computers now compensate for that spacing issue that had to be done manually eons ago?
Here’s some proof for you. Did you know that you can go through a document, change all the periods from size 12 to 14, and the document size will increase? If that little pip can affect the length, what makes you think two spaces won’t?
one space.