The endless debate: One space or two spaces after a period?

[Godhumor]

And of course, I will give the real answer. Two spaces if you are using a fixed width font like Courier (Every letter or mark gets the same spacing), and one space for everything else.

[evlbstrd]

1. I agree.

Typrogaphically, two spaces make a gaping hole in the color of the text.

[Hoyt]

2. If one is reading a lot of small font text, many find two spaces helpful. I certainly do.

[angstlessk]

3. Back in the old days

when people used to type...it was always two spaces after the period. No matter the type set.

[PumpkinAle]

7. That's how I learnt and

when doing my own letters. etc. still leave two spaces.

[raccoon]

9. Me too. When you learned two spaces, and did it that way for decades, it's

hard to change. And, really, is it that important?

[Coventina]

13. Yep. I don't think I could ever be broken of that habit.

It'll always be two spaces for me.

[mnhtnbb]

24. Exactly. Typing class in summer school - 1968.

[TexasTowelie]

4. I prefer to use two spaces, but I'm old school and used to fixed width typefaces.

A period is supposed to indicate a stop in the train of thought and I think using the extra space reinforces that notion. I also believe it makes it easier to read.

Considering that many younger people have run-on paragraphs, it can be overwhelming seeing a huge mass of sentences without some white space in between the sentences.

[PumpkinAle]

8. Two spaces after a period; one after a comma

Makes perfect sense and makes things so much easier to read.

[lastlib]

10. two after a colon or semi-colon

These are suppossed to indicate a mental pause, and the extra space helps to re-inforce that.

[GoCubsGo]

21. Yeah, this was all what I was taught in typing class 40 years ago.

It's hard to break that habit.

[Recursion]

5. I'll add some nuance: 2 on a non-kerned system, 1 on a kerned system

So, on a teletype or typewriter, 2. On a word processor, 1. Even if your processed document is displayed in a fixed-width font, the "right" place to put sentence kerning in software is in the layout rules, not by adding an additional character.

[cyberswede]

12. +1

I always used 2 spaces until I started writing HTML pages, now I cringe when I see 2 spaces in Word documents people send me.

[fizzgig]

6. went to school for journalism and worked as a reporter for five years

always one space.

[baldguy]

14. Because the editor and the typesetter will be taking the extra space out anyway.

Modern word processing has more in common with typesetting & graphic design than with typing on a manual typewriter.

[Avalux]

11. Sometimes I get all mavericky and use two spaces just for the hell of it.

I write for a living and sometimes I get bored.

[warrior1]

15. Two spaces, always.

It's easy to read.

[malthaussen]

16. Generational thing, I think.

Old folks who learned on typewriters tend to use two spaces after a period, semicolon, or colon.

-- Mal

[The Second Stone]

17. Never two spaces with an auto kerning font

But two with a typewriter. Modern word processing virtually never has two spaces because it is always correctly typeset by the word processor.

[Make7]

18. Most computers eat extra spaces. ( n/t )

[Sweet Freedom]

19. Never two of anything.

I'm a graphic designer and the very first thing I do when I receive copy from a client is replace all double spaces, dashes, tabs and paragraph marks with one. In fact, InDesign has a built-in GREP for this.

Double spaces after a period is totally unnecessary. The reason people used to be taught to do this is because typewriters used monospaced fonts, which use the same amount of space for each letter and the extra space was needed for readability. Computer fonts (except typewriter fonts like Courier) allot the appropriate amount of space for each letter. Adding an extra space after a period just creates little puddle of white space.

[Auggie]

20. One space. Always. Including my Courier.

[Arugula Latte]

22. It used to be two with typewriters -- now it is one with computers.

Definitely one now. No more. That's my opinion as a professional.

[RebelOne]

23. One space after every sentence.

Nowadays everything written on a computer calls for just one space. When I first learned to type many, many years ago, two spaces was the rule, but no longer.