by Kim Taylor
When I saw this post on Ragan.com by Eileen Burmeister, I had to take a deep breath before I considered sharing what it said. Maybe everybody is still commiserating about Christina Aguilera botching the National Anthem and it’ll go unnoticed, I thought.
Could it be? No more liberally clicking the space bar twice after each period? I’ve inserted more red number signs over the years than I care to admit and now, just like that, I may have to play by the rules and go single space.
Truth be told, we follow AP Style guidelines, but we also agree that two spaces after a period just looks better. So, before I toss the red pen and tighten up the space bar usage, let me hear from you: one space or two?
P.S. – I think this is what Peter Cetera was really singing about.
I broke my double space habit five years ago and now I think it’s distracting when there are two spaces after a period. By most accounts, two spaces is no longer necessary with the modern proportional fonts, so why do it, unless it’s a difficult habit to break.
Old habits die hard. TWO SPACES like I used to do on my Underwood 5 (that was an early word-processor for those who don’t remember that far back!)
I think you know my perspective on the situation. Honestly, I don’t care either way; however, I’m so used to using two spaces it’s been tough to create a one-space-behavior.
Mostly I use one space now, but sometimes I find myself hitting that space bar twice!
I MUST have two spaces! If there aren’t two spaces, who’s to say that every time you use a title with a period (like Dr.) that it isn’t the end of a sentence? Why make reading for context harder than it already is?
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Kerry Martin, Kimberly Taylor. Kimberly Taylor said: Take the poll! One space or two? http://thestrategicfirm.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/one-space-or-two-what-say-you/ [...]
I’m not even going to attempt to break my two space habit, and I don’t think it will make my list of resolutions for 2012.
I guess I should disclose that my tweets are usually single spaced.
I’ll give you my two spaces when you pry them from my cold, dead hands!
Two spaces are preferable, consistency mandatory.
[...] One Space or Two, What Say You? – February 7, 2011 [...]