May 19, 2009
How many spaces after a period?
By: Elaine Levins
ONE, ONE space after a period! This is not the stone age... we are not sitting around carving letters with special tools.
OK, perhaps that reaction is a little strong. Oddly, this is a sore subject with me. As the primary proofreader in the office, this is something that I notice all the time: people (designers, clients, etc.) are still enchanted with putting two spaces after a period (or exclamation point) at the end of a sentence.
And, believe it or not, this is a subject of much heated debate. When I decided to write this post, I searched online to see what I could use to "back up" my claim of "single-space superiority," and was stunned to see how many people have strong feelings on the issue.
One common point is that most of us, in our early forays into typing (some of us on typewriters, some on computers) were taught to double-space after the end of a sentence. And it's true that old habits die hard: if you were taught to double-space, and have been typing that way since you were in school, it's understandable you would be reluctant/resistant to change.
But I'm going to make it easier for you: Both the Modern Language Association (MLA) and the Chicago Manual of Style recommend a single space after a concluding punctuation mark.
Proportional Fonts vs. Monospaced (fixed-width) Fonts
So why were we all taught to double-space, when single-spacing is the standard? It comes down to the types of fonts we use. Typewriters used a monospace, or fixed-width, font that allocated the same amount of space to each letter/character, regardless of the actual width of the character. In other words, the amount of space taken up by the letter "I" would be the same as that of a "W." In this case, double-spacing at the end of a sentence improves readability.
However, in the modern world of computers, desktop publishing, etc., the fonts we use most of the time are known as proportional fonts. Proportional fonts use different widths for different characters, meaning that the "I" will take up less space than the "W." Ultimately, while the monospaced fonts required that extra space in order for the eye to recognize the end of a sentence, that need is negated by the proportional font.
Of course, if someone absolutely insists on the "two-space" rule, I will acquiesce - but not without an informative dissertation on why a single-space is preferable (and probably a little scorn thrown in as well.)
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