I’m from the Old School method of typing education: two spaces after sentence-ending punctuation. Always. I took many typing and business classes in the 1970s and the proper spacing for punctuation was branded into my brain. Branded, I say!
All writers on the JIG website recently got an email from Jay asking us to use only one space after periods. He said it is the current correct protocol, it was updated from two spaces awhile back, and it’s best for the site to use one space because the second space gets stripped off and they pile up in archives and eat up band width. Excuse me?? Oh, a battle ensued, believe me. There are apparently many of us who just cannot fathom spacing only once at the end of a sentence. And it’s physically impossible to stop our thumbs from hitting the space bar that second time. It just feels so wrong.
I did a little research, and sure enough, we no longer should use two spaces. It’s outdated and unnecessary. Even my college professor sister confirmed this horrifying change in typing etiquette. But I just don’t know if I can do it. It feels like the fabric of the universe will come unraveled if I don’t put that second space in after my sentences. They probably get stripped off in my blog just like they do with JIG, but still. I obey Jay’s rules about using one space when I’m working on JIG, but nowhere else so far. I try, but it just feels so dirty and wrong.
I guess I’ll have to try harder because I’ve always tried to be correct in these areas. But if you see that sweet second space in my writing, don’t judge. Heh.
Comments on: "One Space or Two?" (5)
I don’t get this, but maybe it does take up bandwith…I dunno, but like you, I always do a double space after the end of a sentance. Just because. But it never “shows” a double space.
*sigh*
I think I’ll continue using double spaces on my own stuff, but use just one space when I’m doing JIG stuff. It’s Jay’s site and he should be able to manage it how he wants. Plus, we get 3 million hits a month, so it probably matters more than anything on my own site.
Ha! I so totally agree. I cannot physically stop the second spacebar tap after a period. And I won’t!
I don’t know whose “convention” says only one space, but in the medical transcription biz, two spaces is still the convention. Unless I just didn’t get the memo.
Also, I have no clue what Jay is talking about with the space getting stripped off and piling up in archives, but I am 99% sure that’s not the case with your blog. I know it isn’t with mine because I can go in to the database and see my posts in pure HTML form (which shows all the punctuation), and my two spaces are there. Hell, I can SEE the double space right here on your blog, in your post. It ain’t getting stripped and put anywhere, it’s just being treated like every other text character you entered. Jay’s site may work differently but I assure you that it won’t be a problem with your site or your archives getting full. If I’m wrong I will eat my shoes.
I looked up the original email from Jay about the extra space. He said the extraneous spaces take up valuable database space and bandwidth and then don’t even get rendered to the page because HTML removes extraneous white space down to a single space. So maybe I worded it wrong when I said it stripped the spaces and stored them in archives. And for him, those extraneous spaces would be more important because the site gets over 3 million hits a month. I think the one space thing is probably directly related to electronic communication on websites, which could explain why the medical transcription still uses two spaces. Those reports ultimately get printed out and put in files, so the two spaces would be more important.
Just my thoughts.
Thanks for the update. I hadn’t heard we changed from two spaces to one space between sentences! It may change in submitting this comment, but I put TWO spaces between my sentences. It was drilled into my head when I took typing classes in the 70′s… on a typewriter, not a computer. I can’t help it.
[Edit: Same for me. It was drilled into my head. On a typewriter. A manual typewriter with no letters on the keys! -Spoop]