Argh! It’s not my fault, I was brainwashed as a child. I try to keep it down to just one space but I can’t help myself. I’m the victim here!
Do you also press space twice after a period in Java-ish languages?
Microsoft Word now flags double spaces after a period as errors
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Re: Microsoft Word now flags double spaces after a period as errors
#32[deleted]
Re: Microsoft Word now flags double spaces after a period as errors
#33Two spaces are the only civilized option, and I hope the world's numerous, two-space-loving lawyers use their now abundant spare time to lay into MSFT about this.
I believe the software should add wide spaces after periods correctly, and not the user. Two reasons: first, two spaces is too big a separation between sentences. Second, it's really hard to maintain consistency (or ensure that there's consistency) in the use of double spacing without the help of software. It's easy to miss when reviewing.
Let the software do this menial task. That's what computers are for, aren't they?
Re: Microsoft Word now flags double spaces after a period as errors
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not so for the default mode in LaTeX. It tries to guess which periods indicate end-of-sentence (based on whether the next letter is capitalized) and will add additional horizontal space accordingly, unless you tell it not to by declaring your document uses “French Spacing”. (Edit: and my memory may be serving me incorrectly here, but I recall 20 years ago having a support package that also detected double-space in th…
I remember reading the TeXbook and learning that the space after a period is wider if there's a capital afterwards and the various ways of suppressing this behavior. So it's a TeX thing, not LaTeX.
Thanks. I appreciate the attention to detail! FWIW, the distinction between the two is blurry given that most people I’ve known in academia never use TeX directly other then through LaTeX.
Re: Microsoft Word now flags double spaces after a period as errors
#35Good. The only reason that habit is a thing is because of typewriters, which are monospaced. Some people just cargo culted the practice long past its expiration date...which makes for awkward spacing.
It was required by APA until very recently , with the seventh edition. I feel zero shame for never paying that rule a gram of heed.
Re: Microsoft Word now flags double spaces after a period as errors
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
Programs that do typesetting for you (Markdown, LaTeX), will ignore the number of spaces after the period in your "source" code and lay it out in the output with a single space. I've gotten in the habit of single-space in variable-width fonts, and double-space in fixed-width fonts.
Not so for the default mode in LaTeX. It tries to guess which periods indicate end-of-sentence (based on whether the next letter is capitalized) and will add additional horizontal space accordingly, unless you tell it not to by declaring your document uses “French Spacing”. (Edit: and my memory may be serving me incorrectly here, but I recall 20 years ago having a support package that also detected double-space in th…
Won’t that mess up titles like Dr. Livingstone and Mr. President?
Splitting text into sentences is actually really hard.
Re: Microsoft Word now flags double spaces after a period as errors
#37This reminds me of the Tabs vs Space discussion, and how once Bill Gates did an AMA on Reddit and his answer was that tabs was better because of consistency.
Consistency with what, all the other code that uses tabs?
Re: Microsoft Word now flags double spaces after a period as errors
#38Argh! It’s not my fault, I was brainwashed as a child. I try to keep it down to just one space but I can’t help myself. I’m the victim here!
You did a great job in that comment, though :)
It's just how HTML is rendered, you'll never know whether OP used 1 or 2 spaces in that comment.
Re: Microsoft Word now flags double spaces after a period as errors
#39That's pretty obnoxious. I do two spaces out of habit, and would prefer it just removed them quietly rather than forcing me to relearn. (which is what HTML does, effectively.... it displays it the same if you use two spaces)
Yeah I was forced to do this as a child when writing typed stuff in school and wish I hadn’t, hopefully won’t be too hard to relearn.
We were also forced to have perfect MLA citations in high school where the librarian had to sign off on it and you had to go rewrite it for any arbitrary little thing - what a monumental waste of time. They probably still make the students do that.
Re: Microsoft Word now flags double spaces after a period as errors
#40Good. The only reason that habit is a thing is because of typewriters, which are monospaced. Some people just cargo culted the practice long past its expiration date...which makes for awkward spacing.
Even on typewriters double spaces has been an English thing. In German it has never existed. And I have never noticed that it would have been difficult in reading typewritten German text because one wouldn't see where the sentences end. But then some English speakers might joke that in German you note the end of the sentence by finally hitting the last verb. French punctuation looks weird to me, because they do requi…
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