# Double space after a period **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 20, 2009, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-space-after-a-period/510801 "2009-09-20T04:05:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-space-after-a-period/510801/41 "2009-09-22T13:44:11Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > I learned to type in the 70s and was taught to double-space. I still do it, even though I’ve often read that it is no longer standard. I could’ve written this! I had no idea people felt so strongly about it. I think having two spaces after the end of a sentence enhances readability. ETA: I double-spaced after each sentence above, and now I see that the Dope hamsters compressed each to a single space. \*&^%$! hamsters. ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-space-after-a-period/510801/42 "2009-09-22T13:53:27Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > All my years of preparing text for publication has drubbed the double space out of me. If I’m editing a letter for someone and the letter is in virtually any font except Courier, I replace the double space after periods with single. The new ADA manual says you have to type one space after a sentence. When I started grad school they harped the crap out of it but I am a double spacer and they never indicated I did anything wrong on the papers I turned in. This was 2007. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-space-after-a-period/510801/43 "2009-09-22T14:06:26Z")
Obligatory link: [**One space between sentences**](http://www.westminster.edu/staff/nak/courses/spaces.htm) (I love this link. I refer to it whenever this topic comes up. I actually read it first in _The Mac Is Not a Typewriter_, by Robin Williams, 1990.) ---
**Author:** ![SeanArenas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeanArenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeanArenas)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-space-after-a-period/510801/44 "2009-09-22T15:47:54Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I could’ve written this! I had no idea people felt so strongly about it. I think having two spaces after the end of a sentence enhances readability. I also think it enhances readability, but then you run into people who think that it detracts from readability. They complain that it causes rivers of white down the page - these are white spaces that, when placed correctly in a paragraph, and when you focus on a page correctly, can look like streams of white running down a page. I’d like to point out that this only occurs when people use short sentences, say less than one line long. When people write loquaciously, they don’t occur. Perhaps it’s more like art than science, if a reasonable percentage of heavy-duty readers believe that double-spacing sentences improves readability. I read a **lot** , both online and offline. I find double-spaced sentences easier to read. Other people don’t. But I’ll only jokingly say, “It’s all a matter of opinion, and … well … you’re wrong.” ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-space-after-a-period/510801/45 "2009-09-22T16:41:25Z")
> [@Translucent\_Daydream](#): > > The new ADA manual says you have to type one space after a sentence. 😕 The Americans with Disabilities Act specifies one space for some reason? Or some other ADA? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-space-after-a-period/510801/46 "2009-09-22T16:47:03Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > 😕 The Americans with Disabilities Act specifies one space for some reason? Or some other ADA? APA, I would assume. ---
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-space-after-a-period/510801/47 "2009-09-22T16:49:40Z")
APA. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-space-after-a-period/510801/48 "2009-09-22T18:57:36Z")
Before I started at my current company 11 years ago, I never double-spaced or even noticed if someone else did. My first e-mail to my boss was replied with: “Double space after a period!” I had no idea what she was even talking about until I checked some of her e-mails. But it definitely sunk in, and now I always do it. I think it does look better aesthetically. If saving space is important, why have any space at all after any punctuation?They don’t really serve a purpose,do they?Well,do they? ---
**Author:** ![Brainiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8797f3/32.png) [@Brainiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-space-after-a-period/510801/49 "2009-09-22T19:42:06Z")
The major influence on typing standards came when the major publishers of the yellow journalism era demanded compatible copy from stringers all across the country, and created house standards. Some of these were at conflict with other existing usage, because some publisher was solving his own special problems. So “widow lines” that got separated at the end of a column became taboo. And to make sure periods didn’t get lost they were required to move inside a final quote mark, whether or not the quote was a complete sentence. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-space-after-a-period/510801/50 "2009-09-22T19:47:33Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > If saving space is important, why have any space at all after any punctuation?They don’t really serve a purpose,do they?Well,do they? It’s not about saving space. It’s about aesthetics. Those old, hand-typeset books of yesteryear? They don’t have a double space after a period. Seriuosly, go look at any professional typeset book from any era and tell me it’s double-spaced. They have perhaps somewhere between a space and a space and a half, but it’s not two spaces. (And today’s proportional computer fonts are supposed to put the right amount of space after a period.) As far as I know, the double spacing after a period is completely a product of the typewriter era. ---
**Author:** ![JXJohns](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jxjohns/32/469_2.png) [@JXJohns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JXJohns)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-space-after-a-period/510801/51 "2009-09-22T19:53:36Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > It makes a difference to me. Two spaces is still typical among lawyers, and it’s what I’ve grown used to. I find the Dope slightly harder to read because the space after a period is not really bigger than the space after a comma. I recently completed a stint at my local state legislature. Two spaces was the norm for any bills. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-space-after-a-period/510801/52 "2009-09-22T20:03:29Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > ETA: I double-spaced after each sentence above, and now I see that the Dope hamsters compressed each to a single space. \*&^%$! hamsters. Don’t blame the Dope on this. It’s your browser removing the extra spaces when your post is displayed. The spaces are still there in the source text you typed. I could still see them there when I quoted your post to reply. What happened to your spaces, is the HTML standard removes all but one space between the other characters when they’re displayed on the page in a proportional font. The HTML standard merely emulates automatically what used to be done manually when a typewritten manuscript went to the typesetter. For this reason, when you’re writing for web publication (and posting to a message board counts in that respect), you might as well continue to double-space after sentences. Readers viewing with a proportional font will automagically have the extra spaces removed from their sight, and in the rare cases when it’s displayed in a non-proportional font, that works out fine too, because you want the old standard with double spaces then. \*\*\* Ponder ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2009, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-space-after-a-period/510801/53 "2009-09-22T22:42:43Z")
Didn’t know that - thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-space-after-a-period/510801/54 "2009-09-23T15:41:29Z")
> [@Randy\_Seltzer](#): > > [Previous very long thread on the topic](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=513861). All the people I work with who use the double space after periods are still alive, and they still notice if there’s one incidence of a single space after a period in the middle of a long document – even in proportional fonts – because it sticks out to them visually. I read tons of proportional text, even in [densely-packed 1300-page history books](http://www.amazon.com/Penguin-History-Second-World-War/dp/0140285024), and at some level I’m always aware of the single space making me feel crowded. I know people say it doesn’t matter, but it does. I am a blindingly fast reader compared to most people, even of text with the single space, despite hating it, so that’s not the issue. I do feel that offsetting sentences with a tiny bit of extra space better preserves the sentence as a unit of thought, just like I use vertical whitespace for key emphasis. As far as believing the use of “proportional” fonts means we can eliminate that “wasted” second space, why not goallthewayandsimplyshortenupthespacebetweenwordsevenmore?Itwouldsavealotmorekeystrokesandifyoudon’tthinklosingthesceondspaceimpactsmyunderstanding,whywouldwethinklosing_all_thespaceswouldimpactanyone’sunderstanding. . ---
**Author:** ![SeanArenas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeanArenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeanArenas)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-space-after-a-period/510801/55 "2009-09-23T16:15:51Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > All the people I work with who use the double space after periods are still alive, and they still notice if there’s one incidence of a single space after a period in the middle of a long document – even in proportional fonts – because it sticks out to them visually. Agree 100%. It very much sticks out for me visually, in printed and screen text. > [@Sailboat](#): > > As far as believing the use of “proportional” fonts means we can eliminate that “wasted” second space, why not goallthewayandsimplyshortenupthespacebetweenwordsevenmore?Itwouldsavealotmorekeystrokesandifyoudon’tthinklosingthesceondspaceimpactsmyunderstanding,whywouldwethinklosing_all_thespaceswouldimpactanyone’sunderstanding. I read a lot of Dragonlance, and their gnomes talk like that, so I was able to make it out. A space takes less “space” than your italicizing, by the way. It’s all in the hypertext. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-space-after-a-period/510801/56 "2009-09-23T16:22:46Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > It’s not about saving space. It’s about aesthetics. Those old, hand-typeset books of yesteryear? They don’t have a double space after a period. Seriuosly, go look at any professional typeset book from any era and tell me it’s double-spaced. They have perhaps somewhere between a space and a space and a half, but it’s not two spaces. (And today’s proportional computer fonts are supposed to put the right amount of space after a period.) As far as I know, the double spacing after a period is completely a product of the typewriter era. No argument from me, except that aesthetics are subjective and oftentimes the result of familiarity. ---
**Author:** ![qazwart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/5fc32e/32.png) [@qazwart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qazwart)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-space-after-a-period/510801/57 "2009-09-23T17:31:37Z")
One of the things to remember is that in monospaced fonts, the space is as wide as the letters. This is not true in proportional spaced fonts. Double spacing after a period isn’t going to lead to a lot more space. This is a sentence. This is another sentence after a single space. This is a sentence. This is another sentence after a double space. Notice that there’s not that much difference. Spaces tend to be less than a full letter width, so double spacing isn’t putting that much extra space after a sentence. Plus, if you use full line justification, the double space after a period will simply be justified out since the size of spaces are adjusted to keep the right side of the page flush with the margin. Kerning can also affect it too. You can adjust kerning, so double spaces are less than the width of two separate spaces. And, you can also kern a font to make a space after a period a bit wider. I believe most fonts are now kerned this way, and most computers that use variable width fonts do kerning. In a monospaced font, the letters line up horizontally on a page. That can make it hard to stare at a page typed in a monospaced font, and the double space after a period made the page easier to read. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-space-after-a-period/510801/58 "2009-09-23T17:37:43Z")
> [@qazwart](#): > > One of the things to remember is that in monospaced fonts, the space is as wide as the letters. This is not true in proportional spaced fonts. Double spacing after a period isn’t going to lead to a lot more space. > > This is a sentence. This is another sentence after a single space. > This is a sentence. This is another sentence after a double space. > > Notice that there’s not that much difference. There’s no difference at all after your browser sanitized out the extra space. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![hobscrk777](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a6a055/32.png) [@hobscrk777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hobscrk777)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-space-after-a-period/510801/59 "2009-09-23T18:08:53Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > just like I use vertical whitespace for key emphasis. > > As far as believing the use of “proportional” fonts means we can eliminate that “wasted” second space, why not goallthewayandsimplyshortenupthespacebetweenwordsevenmore?Itwouldsavealotmorekeystrokesandifyoudon’tthinklosingthesceondspaceimpactsmyunderstanding,whywouldwethinklosing_all_thespaceswouldimpactanyone’sunderstanding. > > . Now that’s just exaggeration bordering on the ridiculous. A space in between words clearly indicates where one word ends and the next begins, something that isn’t evident to a reader in your jumbled text all run together. A double space after a period isn’t necessary because a period indicates that a sentence has ended, and a single space is all that is necessary to provide the visual clue that a new word has begun. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-space-after-a-period/510801/60 "2009-09-23T18:14:19Z")
> [@hobscrk777](#): > > Now that’s just exaggeration bordering on the ridiculous. A space in between words clearly indicates where one word ends and the next begins, something that isn’t evident to a reader in your jumbled text all run together. A double space after a period isn’t necessary because a period indicates that a sentence has ended, and a single space is all that is necessary to provide the visual clue that a new word has begun. Just thought I’d mention that’s how written Thai works. There are no spaces between words, only between sentences.) The words are all jumbled together. There’s no punctuation in Thai, so the space serves as the period.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-space-after-a-period/510801.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/double-space-after-a-period/510801.md?page=4)