Spaces after a period

[iago]

I'm somewhat curious. I've always put 2-spaces after a period, but in my new job the editor tells us to do 1-space, and gets mad if you don't.

In the past month, I've successfully altered my 2-space habit, so I almost always use one space now. But it seems weird, since I always learned 2.

[Newby]

I learned early in life it was two. I still use one.

[dark_drake]

I usually go with one.  If the person I'm typing for asks for two, I'll type one until the very end and then just use find and replace.

[Ergot]

I use to do one, but now I do two since my 10th grade English teacher told me to. I still use one online though.

[Ender]

The two-spacing is obsolete. Single spacing is the future. They did it back when there were no word processors so I'm afraid to say iago that you're 36 years behind.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_stop#Spacing_after_full_stop

Oh, and you also have HTML to thank for that =P It's cool to think about how the MLA, APA, etc. shapes their standards around computers and technology, as was the case for HTML.

"With the advent of standardized HTML for rendering webpages, the broader distinction between full stop spacing and internal spacing in a sentence has become largely moot on the World Wide Web. Standardized HTML treats additional whitespace after the first space as immaterial (siding unquestioningly with the one-spacers), and ignores it when rendering the page. A common workaround for this is the use of   (Non-breaking space) to represent extra spaces, and is done automatically by some WYSIWYG editors."

[Eric]

I've always been a fan of the two-space.  It looks much cleaner, in my opinion.

[Ender]

I use to do one, but now I do two since my 10th grade English teacher told me to. I still use one online though.

Who do you trust, your teacher or HTML?

[iago]

I usually go with one.  If the person I'm typing for asks for two, I'll type one until the very end and then just use find and replace.

Haha, that's the opposite of what I did at first at my job, I'd do it with 2 then find/replace with 1. But now I've broken the habit of using 2, so I can do either equally well. Go me!

[Sidoh]

Here's the MLA's response to this subject, iago.  They seem to be pretty impartial.

[Ergot]

I use to do one, but now I do two since my 10th grade English teacher told me to. I still use one online though.

Who do you trust, your teacher or HTML?

The teacher since he or she is the one that gives me the grade.

[trust]

I've always used one, I don't see the purpose in using two and it's inconvenient to push the spacebar twice with no productivity or practicality in return.

[iago]

Here's the MLA's response to this subject, iago.  They seem to be pretty impartial.

Strictly speaking, I wasn't asking which one's right. It seems that using either are conventions, which is supported by the MLA. So it really comes down to personal preference, unless you're writing professionally (or academically), then you just do what you're told to .

I think what we all want to know is, how many spaces are you supposed to put after an emoticon?

[Ergot]

I think what we all want to know is, how many spaces are you supposed to put after an emoticon?

If the emoticon is taking the place of a full-stop then I would use two.

[Hitmen]

Uhh, this is not a subject I have ever heard anyone bring up in my life. Your editor should be flogged until he finds more important things to care about.

[Joe]

Like finding a way to get out of the flogging?

One. There can be only one.

[MyndFyre]

I'm somewhat curious. I've always put 2-spaces after a period, but in my new job the editor tells us to do 1-space, and gets mad if you don't.

In the past month, I've successfully altered my 2-space habit, so I almost always use one space now. But it seems weird, since I always learned 2.

In every English class I've taken, it's 2 spaces at the end of a sentence, one space when you're using an abbreviation (such as Mr.), unless it's immediately followed by other punctuation, such as comma or parenthesis.

[CrAz3D]

I'm somewhat curious. I've always put 2-spaces after a period, but in my new job the editor tells us to do 1-space, and gets mad if you don't.

In the past month, I've successfully altered my 2-space habit, so I almost always use one space now. But it seems weird, since I always learned 2.

In every English class I've taken, it's 2 spaces at the end of a sentence, one space when you're using an abbreviation (such as Mr.), unless it's immediately followed by other punctuation, such as comma or parenthesis.

same here.

however, it sees that chicago styles usesd only one spcaes for published documetns.
maybe i guess i should change then so that i work in there

[Super_X]

The way that I was tought was it was two spaces on typewriters and one space on the computer. Most of the word processors make it more clear that it's a period and the end of a sentance, I've noticed.

[iago]

Uhh, this is not a subject I have ever heard anyone bring up in my life. Your editor should be flogged until he finds more important things to care about.

Haha, while you have a valid point, when documents are authored by more than one person, a consistent style has to be used, otherwise it'll look funny.

It's like, when you're programming something on a team, you should have a consistent programming style (in terms of spacing and commenting), which helps in the end. Makes it easier to edit others' code and such.

[Ender]

Amalgamating writing and programming styles can be artful. I'd rather see code with different programming styles

[Sidoh]

Amalgamating writing and programming styles can be artful. I'd rather see code with different programming styles

It may be refreshing initially, but I doubt you'd keep that opinion after a few weeks on a programming job.

[kalaka]

Personally I use just one, never seen anyone use two (or just never noticed I guess).

[Joe]

Ender will enjoy reading the new code merged into JavaOp. iago's style and mine are mostly the same (I pretty much learned from him), but somewhat different.

[Screenor]

I never had anyone argue with how many spaces I put after a period (I put one). No one ever specified how many I should have either...

[Rule]

Interesting!  And quite ironic of Ender to claim that the double space is being eliminated by the "computer age."  I have never been told anything about whether we should have a single space or a double space at the end of a sentence.  I guess it's not terribly noticeable in handwriting, so I never really thought about it.   
It would be unnatural just to "guess" that there would be two spaces, so without thinking about it at all, when I first started word-processing (I was about 14... so computers really weren't part of my punctuation education ) I assumed there was one space at the end of sentences, but I noticed that I was always corrected!  And since I type quickly, I got in an habit of quickly tapping the space bar twice at the end of any sentence closing punctuation.  So MS Word drilled this convention into my writing, and I have followed it since.  And I don't think I've thought about it since I was about 14, when I was forced to change! :O

[Ender]

Interesting! And quite ironic of Ender to claim that the double space is being eliminated by the "computer age." I have never been told anything about whether we should have a single space or a double space at the end of a sentence. I guess it's not terribly noticeable in handwriting, so I never really thought about it. 
It would be unnatural just to "guess" that there would be two spaces, so without thinking about it at all, when I first started word-processing (I was about 14... so computers really weren't part of my punctuation education ) I assumed there was one space at the end of sentences, but I noticed that I was always corrected! And since I type quickly, I got in an habit of quickly tapping the space bar twice at the end of any sentence closing punctuation. So MS Word drilled this convention into my writing, and I have followed it since. And I don't think I've thought about it since I was about 14, when I was forced to change! :O

[d&q]

Rule, would it be too much of an intrusion to ask for your age?

[leet_muffin]

Uh, I've been assaulted from two different teachers for doing it two different ways, I don't know what to believe.
 

[Skywing]

Two spaces.