Quick: Need an "authoritative" reference for "one space after ending punctuation"

[decay]

with typset books, editors will look for spaces that connect and create "valleys" on the page. some will ask for manual kerning/line breaks to avoid this visual problem.

a double space after a period will only add to that gap and exacerbate the problem.

http://www.answers.com/topic/kerning

[ztirffritz]

What is an 'em' or 'en' space that people keep mentioning?

[Seacrest]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Em_space

[Sam3]

Couple of links that I found that might help:

http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/typespaci...spaces.htm
http://www.shaunakelly.com/word/concepts...index.html

It's a hard habit to break, but everyone who learned to type on typewriters needs break it when using computers, unless one is using a monospaced font. I still have incredible difficulty remembering to use one space.

Actually, your style manuals were the most "authoritative" sources, the rest of our links are just an addendum.

[JoeH]

ztirffritz wrote:
What is an 'em' or 'en' space that people keep mentioning?

In old fashioned typesetting with proportional typefaces, an em-space was the width of the "M" character in the set of type. An en-space was the width of a "N" obviously, or about half an em-space, later defined to be exactly half an em. You used en-spaces between words, and em-spaces at the end of sentences. Seacrest links to the wiki article which gives the digital typography meaning.

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JoeH wrote:
[quote=ztirffritz]
What is an 'em' or 'en' space that people keep mentioning?

In old fashioned typesetting with proportional typefaces, an em-space was the width of the "M" character in the set of type. An en-space was the width of a "N" obviously, or about half an em-space, later defined to be exactly half an em. You used en-spaces between words, and em-spaces at the end of sentences. Seacrest links to the wiki article which gives the digital typography meaning.



With long experience in metal typesetting I must disagree. Ems and Ens are only for filling out a line of type. Never for word spacing. Thin spaces are for word spacing.

[blooz]

The lady at the printer's where i started out, who'd been typesetting before computers existed taught us hyphen for hyphenated (duh) words, en space (option +-) for time or date ranges, em space for breaks in a sentence.

[RAMd®d]

Perhaps you might consider counseling your mechanic to "not be so anal".

I can understand the "right is right, wrong is wrong concept with respect to the orientation of a piston in a cylinder or the clearance of piston rings, the heat range of a spark plug, etc.

But applying such a concept to the spacing of a punctuation mark and the next letter seems more about choosing to follow accepted practices or not. I don't see any right-is-right about it.

Yeah a bunch of people now choose to use one space instead of two. Probably to save space, like the affectation of running words together without spaces in several aspects of the digital world. I still use two spaces because *I* like the way it looks and don't really care that it's fallen from favor by-- somebody.

I see most forums automatically remove the extra space. That's their choice, and I have none in that instance. But I still type it.

[Silencio]

michaelb wrote:
I think this is a matter of style and that writing in the English language is now flexible enough to not have set rules for personal writing.

ORLY LOL ZOMG

We have rules so written communications don't descend into fractured, indecipherable chaos. Then again, the way most people write these days, this has already happened...

[davester]

This is surely one of the epic unsolved problems of mankind. I think the answer really is....who cares!? Some people have been trained to put two spaces after a period, probably based on their typewriter instructions. Others don't understand why that should be necessary since the computer should be able to decide the spacing after periods. There is no firm rule (you can find style guides that go either way) so the best thing to do is STFU and go find something else in life to turn your attention to.