"MM" == Mark McCullough <[email protected]> MM> Depends on the writing standards. In the format I'm MM> required to use for much of my writing, even in a variable MM> width font, a double space is required following either a MM> sentence end (full stop, period) or a colon. The MM> mandatory font in such cases is also Times New Roman or a MM> close facsimile, so they are clearly cognizant of such.
Right, but from a typographer's point of view (Robert Bringhurst,
in this case), you shouldn't type multiple spaces. (See also [0]
and [1].)
Obviously if a publication you're submitting to has requirements
that include multiple spaces between sentences, you'd better have
them or your manuscript might be rejected.
It's often the case that manuscripts in whatever format are
retyped to get them into the publisher's typesetting system, and
it could be that they're either literally retyping, and use the
extra spaces to help the typists know which periods indicate the
ends of sentences and which are initials or abbreviations, or it
could be that they're copying and pasting into a markup-based
system where having the extra spaces doesn't matter for the final
result, but might make it easier to read/parse the code. (In my
experience, the production side of publishing is like the mythical
sausage factory -- you don't want to know what really happens.)
MM> I can clearly see the visual difference and find myself
MM> preferring the full double space. I've seen too many
MM> cases where a single space after the sentence end ends up
MM> looking like there is no space at all leading into a wider
MM> letter like a W.
TeX, and some other typesetting systems, will use an intersentence
space to separate sentences. In practice, that space will
generally be larger than an interword space, but for added fun,
different languages prefer different space widths, and (in TeX)
spaces are often elastic and can stretch or be compressed to help
the text flow within a paragraph.
MM> But my preferences don't matter, the format required by
MM> the purpose of the writing (e.g. journalism, manuscript
MM> format, etc.) is what counts. Some formal formats have
MM> said that the double space is mandatory, others say it is
MM> forbidden, and some just don't care as long as you are
MM> consistent.
Right, but for word-processing documents you're composing
yourself, for your own or internal use (i.e., without some
particular requirement), you should probably only have a single
space after a sentence. I would, of course, encourage anyone to
use {La,}TeX or some other markup language, where you can do what
works for you, and the typeset results will reflect the style
you choose.
Claire
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Claire M. Connelly [email protected]
System Administrator, Dept. of Mathematics, Harvey Mudd College
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