Space Invaders - Why you should never, ever use two spaces after a period.

[cjolley]

Maybe it is a regional thing: customary in Europe, not in the US?

I went to High School in Germany and had a German typing teacher, so it isn't that.

[Evildead666]

I'm another notch for the 'Never heard of it' crowd

[KRSESQ]

It was drilled into us in typing (NOT "keyboarding") class. Monotype typewriters and all that...

[High_Jumbllama]

I have always put two spaces after a period since a professor for a writing class made us do it at University of Hartford. No reason to change. What's the big deal?

[UtwigMU]

Also never heard of it (learned in the 90s), not even from other people who learned typing earlier.

[Wulfman]

never heard of it (learned typing in the early 90s), nor have I ever heard it from my mother (learned typing in the 60s).

mfg
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[Elie]

I don't understand._______Why do we need to have one space between the period and the start of a new sentence.___________ I guess I have to read up some more and go from there.

[VJ]

He sounds fun at parties.

But until I read this article I had never even heard of the idea of putting two spaces after a period.

Maybe it is a regional thing: customary in Europe, not in the US?

Much ado about nothing.

[cjolley]

Much ado about nothing.

lol

[Brian Ellis]

Much ado about nothing.

[cjolley]

Weird, I learned to type, sort of, in the late sixties on a regular typewriter, and Becky worked at the University of Texas Press in the type setting department.
But until I read this article I had never even heard of the idea of putting two spaces after a period.

He sounds fun at parties.

He's usually pretty good. Must have been a slow week for him

[KRSESQ]

He sounds fun at parties.

[VJ]

Back when I learned to type (1988 or so), we had this full rulebook of spacing. As the typewriters used monospaced fonts, we were taught 2 spaces after a period. Similarly, we were taught that with a ":" you need 1 space before and 1 space after (",", ";" was none before and one after). And even visually I still think it makes sense on a proportional font.
Moving to computers, I initially still maintained the rules, mainly because I was so used to typing like that. But now, when using proportionally spaced fonts I stick to just one space.

I assume for many people it still - yes, even now - still is force of habit.

[TransformX]

http://www.slate.com/id/2281146/