Massassi Forums Logo

This is the static archive of the Massassi Forums. The forums are closed indefinitely. Thanks for all the memories!

You can also download Super Old Archived Message Boards from when Massassi first started.

"View" counts are as of the day the forums were archived, and will no longer increase.

☖ Forums → Discussion Forum → Did I miss the memo on two spaces after a period?
Did I miss the memo on two spaces after a period?
2011-09-21, 4:42 PM #1
It just now hit me when I hit "Preview Post" that the forums changed all my twin-spaces after punctuation marks into single spaces. I also now realize that my phone encourages this, only auto-capitalizing the next word if I do a single space and not a double.

I've always done double, ever since I first learned to type on an Apple IIe. I was taught it was correct in school. I've literally NEVER thought about it until now but some googling reveals that it maybe isn't. Input, Massassi?
2011-09-21, 4:43 PM #2
the world has passed you by, Dash. Double spacing is no longer necessary.
2011-09-21, 4:45 PM #3
Adapt or die.
My favorite JKDF2 h4x:
EAH XMAS v2
MANIPULATOR GUN
EAH SMOOTH SNIPER
2011-09-21, 4:47 PM #4
Originally posted by saberopus:
the world has passed you by, Dash. Double spacing is no longer necessary.

That's what I thought...then a supervisor at work wanted me to double space after everything.

WTF.
woot!
2011-09-21, 4:56 PM #5
You used to double-space because typewriters and daisy wheel printers used a fixed-width font. Modern fonts are proportional-width and automatically insert a larger space between a period and the trailing sentence. I don't really care if someone double-spaces out of habit, but if someone insists that it's the correct way to type they are completely full of ****.
2011-09-21, 4:58 PM #6
2 spaces after a period is a relic from when everyone was using typewriters. Typewriters used monospaced fonts (maybe not all of them, but enough!) and doing 2 spaces created a nice visual break.

damnit jon'c beat me
[01:52] <~Nikumubeki> Because it's MBEGGAR BEGS LIKE A BEGONI.
2011-09-21, 5:00 PM #7
FYI, I just looked it up on Wikipedia and apparently daisy wheel printers and electronic typewriters could do proportional-width fonts too. So, really, double-spacing after a period is a purposeless relic from an age that is so far dead and gone that nobody on this forum remembers it, not even Evad.
2011-09-21, 5:33 PM #8
I remember the macs I used to use in school didn't insert proportional spaces after periods. A space using the space bar was the same width as any other space, so while they -could- do it, I definitely remember when computers didn't.

lololapple
TAKES HINTS JUST FINE, STILL DOESN'T CARE
2011-09-21, 5:58 PM #9
Computers used fixed-width fonts for the display because it was easier to render. They still do: the VGA BIOS on your modern video card contains a bitmap font for CP437.

Tons of printers had proportional postscript fonts, even dot matrix. They were built into the printer.
2011-09-21, 6:17 PM #10
I know, I was just saying that being able to doesn't mean that they did. I know better than to argue with you.
TAKES HINTS JUST FINE, STILL DOESN'T CARE
2011-09-21, 6:57 PM #11
I know. I was just saying that even though the display didn't support it, the printers did, so it was still a bad idea.
2011-09-21, 9:21 PM #12
Also, some people double space make the things that they type look longer at first glance. I just hope that my example is self demonstrating once it posts.
Snail racing: (500 posts per line)------@%
2011-09-21, 10:16 PM #13
One of my friends wrote a note last year for a law journal that insisted double spacing was the only correct way to type. I hate it when people do this.
If you think the waiters are rude, you should see the manager.
2011-09-21, 10:21 PM #14
I prefer two spaces. It's not that big of a deal anymore, but I still use it; mainly because that's how I was taught to type, and I like how it looks.
I can't wait for the day schools get the money they need, and the military has to hold bake sales to afford bombs.
2011-09-22, 4:11 AM #15
I use double spaces out of habit, and at work I write a lot of report that they will go through and make double-spaced anyway. I know a lot of things on the web auto-correct to single space, but I don't really care either way.
$do || ! $do ; try
try: command not found
Ye Olde Galactic Empire Mission Editor (X-wing, TIE, XvT/BoP, XWA)
2011-09-22, 4:26 AM #16
I had no idea there ever even was a "double spacing" until now. As in, I've only known this for less than 5 minutes. Wicked!
Star Wars: TODOA | DXN - Deus Ex: Nihilum
2011-09-22, 6:01 AM #17
It's not just the web. Word processing software switches it automatically for you, too.
TAKES HINTS JUST FINE, STILL DOESN'T CARE
2011-09-22, 6:24 AM #18
Fortunately, my single paragraph blog post from 2006 is still near the top of google:

http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/andrewingram/entry/two_spaces_after/
Detty. Professional Expert.
Flickr Twitter
2011-09-22, 11:51 AM #19
I double space and just happen to prefer how it looks.
nope.
2011-09-22, 12:06 PM #20
Like many people have posted, I too mostly double space out of habit and how it looks, though it's not something I get hung up about. Unfortunately, at least in the U.S., I think it's still "good grammar" that you use commas and periods inside quotation marks instead of outside, which was apparently a carry-over from typewriters as well. I want to be rid of that one.
The Plothole: a home for amateur, inclusive, collaborative stories
http://forums.theplothole.net
2011-09-22, 12:25 PM #21
Why do you prefer it the other way?
2011-09-22, 12:36 PM #22
Because this:
Quote:
I hate "quotation marks."

Looks more awkward than this:
Quote:
I hate "quotation marks".

The period is not the thing I want quoted; the period is what is completing the thought.
The Plothole: a home for amateur, inclusive, collaborative stories
http://forums.theplothole.net
2011-09-22, 2:19 PM #23
Originally posted by Gebohq:
Like many people have posted, I too mostly double space out of habit and how it looks, though it's not something I get hung up about. Unfortunately, at least in the U.S., I think it's still "good grammar" that you use commas and periods inside quotation marks instead of outside, which was apparently a carry-over from typewriters as well. I want to be rid of that one.


I completely agree and I don't care what anybody says is proper, I only quote punctuation if it's PART OF THE QUOTE.


He said "Did he say 'Die!'?".
2011-09-22, 3:28 PM #24
Funnily enough if you did it the other way it'd be an interrobang.
nope.
2011-09-22, 3:45 PM #25
Originally posted by Gebohq:
Because this:

Looks more awkward than this:

The period is not the thing I want quoted; the period is what is completing the thought.


Along those lines, I treat quoted text like a single object since I do a lot of programming, so putting punctuation inside the quotes looks like there's no punctuation in regards to the sentence.
$do || ! $do ; try
try: command not found
Ye Olde Galactic Empire Mission Editor (X-wing, TIE, XvT/BoP, XWA)
2011-09-22, 9:33 PM #26
Originally posted by Dash_rendar:
He said "Did he say 'Die!?.'"


Fixed (?) for you.
2011-09-22, 9:36 PM #27
the typing program they make us use to kill time in my class enforces double space but I've never used it outside of there.
error; function{getsig} returns 'null'
2011-09-22, 10:35 PM #28
I still double space on computer... Not on cell phone. Actually.. I just noticed, I don't double space any more. Weird, I wonder when I stopped doing that?
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

Lassev: I guess there was something captivating in savagery, because I liked it.
2011-09-23, 12:38 AM #29
Originally posted by Giraffe:
Fixed (?) for you.


Wait... are you ****ing with me? :confused:
2011-09-23, 1:12 AM #30
I'm sorry, I keep reading "double spacing" and think of spacing between lines or paragraphs.

-Also, I never double space, and I always parse punctuation within quotations, as in "He said 'Did he say "Die!"?'," even if it sometimes leads to rather strange punctuation trails afterwards like that.
2011-09-23, 9:53 AM #31
Yeah, I'm not even sure if I still double space. Nope, I don't. Just realized as I type this. For years I still insisted it was the correct way to type, but then just said, "The hell with it, no one does that anymore." So it doesn't really matter to me, either way.

Also, I hate it when you have just a phrase, and "correct" grammar insists I put the punctuation inside the quotes. Correct grammar be damned, I'm gonna do it like "this", and not like "this."

↑ Up to the top!