Quote:
Originally Posted by MacEachaidh
I would disagree there. Personally I think a two-space space is just as valid in proportional fonts, from perspectives of both design choice and facilitating parsing. I prefer it, and there are valid reasons to use it beyond the thought that it's what typists used to be taught.
It's not "incorrect", just not the default practice of (at first) coding and thence HTML, which has become ubiquitous and as a consequence imposed its own parsing behaviours onto the language at large.
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I agree - I always use two spaces after end of sentence regardless of font. Of course, programs like good ol' MS Word always try to 'correct' it back to a single space, especially when cutting/pasting, so I need to pay attention. But I find the paras more readable with the sentences spaced this way.
I was in the service for 11 years and they can get tedious with their writing standards, but on the whole I found most of their 'rules' worthwhile and I still apply them today. So I use two spaces after end of sentence, two spaces after a colon (
, and single spaces after other punctuation (semi-colon (
, comma, etc.).
As I said in an earlier post, I have adopted the 'single-quote standard' for writing, using single-quotes for speech and so on, with double-quotes for speech-within-speech, etc. I just find it nicer to read, more subtle, although it was surprising when I first saw it used in novels - I now find the use of double-quotes throughout a little too blaring. Personal taste, of course.
