posted
I asked my Technical Writing professor. Her response is below. I mentioned many of the "older folks" here on Hatrack use double space and the "whipper snappers" use singel space.
quote: Okay, the term "older folks" has me up in arms! Yes, us older folks did learn to space twice after the periods. Recently, within the past five years, maybe longer, us older folks have memory problems sometimes, publishers began spacing only once after periods. I imagine the publishers think they are saving space! For the same reason, saving space, publishers use fewer commas. Sometimes the missing comma can cause a problem of understanding. I suppose publishers feel that is the readers' problem. I certainly don't count spaces unless students put way too much space in a document. Now, you know the whole story.
posted
I had to write my first ever APA style paper for a class I'm in. I let the teacher know it was my first, so it might not be perfect. It wasn't, and she was helpful in her reply. The last thing she said was to only single space after sentences. *sigh*
I bet that's not specifically an APA thing, though, and depends on whether the teacher is up on all the new fads.
Posts: 2880 | Registered: Jun 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Mike: I line things up with spaces all the time. But it's always in monospace font, and I use a text editor (not a word processor) that is designed to do it efficiently.
It sounds like you're talking about writing code, which is entirely different from creating documents which are intended to be read.
Yes and no. Maybe it's a stretch to say that what I write is intended to be read, but at the very least I intend my code to be readable. The difference is that the person reading my code can read it using whatever editor they want, with syntax highlighting and font of their choice (even proportional!).
In my opinion monospace fonts can be beautiful. Don't be hatin'!
Oh, and when I write documents of the kind you're talking about I do tend to compose in a monospace font, but the final product comes out differently. I haven't used LaTeX in a while, though.
Posts: 1810 | Registered: Jan 1999
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posted
brojack: Your professor is wrong about at least a couple of things. First off, it's been far longer than the past five years or so. Like I said earlier, I hated having to go by the old two-space rule when I learned to type 13 years ago. And anyway, the two-space rule was something employed for typewritten documents, not typeset and published works.
Also, using fewer spaces and fewer commas has nothing to do with an effort to save space. Using less puncutation is an effort to streamline the text and improve readability, because puncutation is an interrruption. If the goal were to save space, there are far more efficient ways of doing so, like choosing a narrower font.
And yes, that comma is entirely misplaced and ruins her intended meaning. But I suppose that's the reader's problem. Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
It is partly to save space. Several of the conventions in AP style is to save space. The lack of a final serial comma is one of them.
Posts: 1753 | Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
Mike: I mean that code is a very different animal from regular text. With text, the goal is to have someone read from beginning to end. With code, you certainly want it to be readable, but obviously you're not going to read it like a book.
And anyway, my original point was that using spaces to line up columns is a bad idea because people learned it on typewriters (where you can get away with it) and carried over to word processors (where you can't).
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Javert Hugo: It is partly to save space. Several of the conventions in AP style is to save space. The lack of a final serial comma is one of them.
Does it actually say that in the style guide? I'll admit I'm not very familiar with AP. I guess space is much more of an issue in newspapers than in books.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
This is why I like engineering. We have national standards that specify what everyone should use. I guess I need to ask each professor at the beginning of term single space our double, hyphens or no hyphens.
Posts: 1766 | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
I managed to get through college and four years of graduate school without a professor ever once caring whether I put one or two spaces after a period. I suspect most people's experience is similar.
Posts: 9866 | Registered: Apr 2002
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quote:Much of the typographic treatment that rings true to me...
There have been many nerdy things said on Hatrack. This is among the nerdiest.
Wow, I just went from nerd wannabe to über-nerd with one push of Tom's Reply button. In this context, it's flattering.
As one who sees my copy worked into layouts and artwork on a daily basis, I appreciate designers who pay attention to typographic treatment. Some just plunk in the text and leave it; some know how to incorporate it into the design and bring out the meaning effectively. You can imagine which designers I prefer working with.
quote:Originally posted by dkw: I managed to get through college and four years of graduate school without a professor ever once caring whether I put one or two spaces after a period. I suspect most people's experience is similar.
It's really a design/publication issue--I think that any teacher who marks off for it on a paper is being ridiculous. I never had to worry about it in school.
Posts: 3149 | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:I think that any teacher who marks off for it on a paper is being ridiculous.
I think it's entirely fair for a teacher to demand adherence to a typographic standard especially in things like comp classes so I don't agree. At all.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
I not only had professors give me grief about it in college, I still have a supervisor who tries to put the extra space in my writing today.
I don't have a problem with a teacher insisting on the correct typographic standard, but I have a SERIOUS problem with one insisting on enforcing an outdated one.
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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posted
I'm 21. I've never in my life been told to use a double space after periods and I've never in my life heard it said to someone else or mentioned in any form until this thread. To me, it seems odd and completely unnecessary.
If I were marked down for it by a Prof, I would think it was a joke.
EDIT: Oh, this is my 7000th post .
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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