Spaces after a Period

Flamewire
Sun, 29 Jul 2012 01:49:37 +0000

It’s one. Here’s why: in the day of typewriters, everything was typed with fixed-width fonts. So the letter “i” took the same amount of space on a page as the letter “w” did. The fonts everywhere today are typically variable-width fonts, where the letter “i” takes much less space than the letter “w.” Courier (Courier New) is one of the only prominent fixed-width fonts, but fonts like Arial, Times New Roman, Tahoma, and Verdana are all variable-width.

Anyway, all typewriters used fixed-width fonts. Since everything took the same amount of space, it was difficult to see where the breaks between sentences were. The two-space rule was adopted to make it easier to read; in theory, your brain is better able to process the breaks between sentences with two spaces.

But here’s the thing: that rule is only useful with fixed-width fonts. Today, almost everything uses variable-width fonts. Putting two spaces does not help the readability of a paragraph today as it once did forty years ago. Fixed-width fonts went out a long time ago, but this tradition was left over. One space is just cleaner, easier, and more aesthetically pleasing.

One space is correct. Putting two spaces is a now-archaic tradition; just like the ampersand (&) is a remnant from Roman culture, there’s no need to put two spaces.

Source: [Two spaces after a period: Why you should never, ever do it. - Slate Magazine](Two spaces after a period: Why you should never, ever do it.)