As a follow-up to our earlier discussion of one versus two spaces following a full point/full stop/period, I offer the following passage from /About Face: Reviving the Rules of Typography/ by David Jury (typos mine):
[begin quotation, page 92] <bold>Space between words</bold> The sole reason for spaces between words is to help the reader to recognise individual word shapes. The space should be the minimum to fulfil this task, commonly stated as the width of an <italic>i</italic>. Close, consistent word spacing will make it easier for the eye to smoothly skip along a line of text with minimum pauses. Visually, a page of text should appear as an orderly series of thin, horizontal, evenly textured lines, separated by channels of clear space. If the setting is loose, there is a tendency for the texture of these lines to appear uneven, fractured, and, in the worst cases, broken. Persistent use of over-large word spaces (particularly if these become wider than the interline spaces) can align with spaces in other lines to create white, vertical 'rivers' through the text. Comprehension will certainly be impaired if the type cannot keep the reader's eye on the line, and a tightly spaced line will greatly help. There should be a sharp contrast between the line of text and the interline spaces, allowing each to provide strength and support to the other. Similarly, space before and after uppercase characters can be reduced, and, if required, the same applies to parentheses and brackets. The shape of some lowercase characters, such as the v, w and y, also offer the opportunity to reduce word spacing where they begin or end a word. The size of the x-height also influences the amount of word space required. The larger the x-height the larger the counters. This means that the spaces separating words also need to be larger to ensure the word shapes are clearly defined. Every effort needs to be made to maintain consistency, especially in demanding circumstances; for example, where punctuation occurs, or where a roman text includes italics or involves a large number of people's names with initials or clusters of numerals; all of these need to be dealt with in such a way that they blend, inconspicuously, into the page of text. <italic>Punctuation</italic> Word spaces, preceding or following punctuation, should be optically adjusted to appear to be of the same value as a standard word space. If a standard word space is inserted after a full point or a comma then, optically, this produces a space up to 50% wider than that of other word spaces within a line of type. This is because these punctuation marks carry space <italic>above</italic> them, which, when added to the adjacent standard word spaces, combines to create a visually larger space. Some argue that the 'additional' space after a comma and full point serves as a 'pause signal' for the reader. But this is unnecessary (and visually disruptive) since the pause signal is provided by the punctuation mark itself. The word space should be reduced to take account of the space above the comma or full point. The aim must be to provide an overall space which is the optical equivalent of a standard word space. Spaces between words, regardless of punctuation, should maintain an even <italic>optical</italic> value equivalent to that of a standard word space. Similarly, quote marks (turned comma and apostrophe, singly or paired) carry space <italic>beneath</italic> them. Consequently, spaces before the turned comma and after the apostrophe should be reduced to the optical equivalent of a standard word space. Single rather than double quotes will make it easier to maintain constant optical word spaces. The colon and semi-colon, and also parenthesis will benefit from a reduction in the word spaces immediately adjacent to them. Question and exclamation marks, generally, do not require an adjustment to the following word space. [end quotation] Jury's book should fascinate anyone interested in typography. -- T. R. Valentine A rich heart may be under a poor coat. -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: [email protected] Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
