My friend Andrea Gimblet recently dropped this bomb on her Facebook page: “Okay, here’s a question…One or two spaces after a period?”
I let the comment thread get sufficiently heated and filled with very interesting answers before I just couldn’t handle it anymore. I provide you with the answer below. Enjoy.
One space. It was always one space except for very specific display types (see below). I have done hand-set letterpress work and it was one space there too.
This has nothing to do with how old you are or morality. It does have everything to do with the display technology you are using. Sadly, many of the people who taught typing didn’t understand the reasoning themselves so they just passed it along. In this way, the “two spaces after a period” rule has become a bit like superstition.
Luckily for you, the inner workings of typography are a secret passion of mine.
The whole two-space thing comes from typewriters and early computer displays which used monospaced characters. When every character in a typeface is the same width it is called a monospace typeface. For example, the letter “i” on a typewriter has a long set of serifs at the bottom and the letter “m” on a typewriter looks so jammed up because typewriters use monospaced typefaces.
The trick here is that a space following a period in typographically-capable systems is a little bit larger than a “word space” which goes between words in a sentence. Professionally typeset material and modern computer displays insert word spaces and sentence spaces automatically so you only need to hit the space bar once (or grab the “word space” piece of lead in the case of hand setting).
Typewriters and early computers that used monospaced type needed something to make up for the fact that all characters, including the spaces, were the same width. Thus, the idea of adding two word spaces at the end of a sentence.
The whole issue with using the proper kind of space is about getting an even “color” on a page of text and avoiding a “river” of spaces (spaces from one line of text lining up with a space on the line above or below). Having two word spaces results in a very noticeable “shotgun” pattern in a page of text and doubles your chances of creating a “river.”
Three important things to keep in mind:
- If you are concerned about typography as an art, the “rivers” and “shotguns” are considered flaws and amateurish, like sour notes in a symphony.
- If you are a reader, the extra space following a period will make it more fatiguing to read longer material. Your eye is forced to travel twice as far for every sentence–no big deal on Twitter but over the length of longer material this will be noticed.
- Your 8th grade typing teacher was right to tell you to put two spaces after a period if he or she was teaching you on a device with monospaced output, like a typewriter.
The following is a paragraph set in a monospaced typeface using one space between words and two spaces after periods.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Mauris consequat quam quis urna aliquam tincidunt rutrum magna pellentesque. Integer quam dolor, blandit non placerat non, tristique vitae eros. Cras id leo a dolor congue gravida. Integer mollis nibh sit amet enim cursus vitae imperdiet libero rhoncus. Curabitur neque nisi, viverra at ultricies ultrices, lobortis non metus. Quisque posuere aliquam dolor, non blandit lectus tincidunt luctus. Donec in magna et nibh semper blandit ut ac eros. Nulla nec elit sit amet dolor posuere ultrices non in justo. Curabitur congue tristique mollis. Aenean tincidunt metus quis nibh interdum vestibulum. Donec eget pulvinar urna. Donec velit tellus, porttitor ac cursus vel, euismod id nulla. Donec ac quam porttitor lorem sagittis sodales ac vitae dolor. Phasellus lobortis tortor eget nisl auctor accumsan pellentesque sem facilisis. Vestibulum sit amet eros tortor. Suspendisse potenti. Nulla et libero nec urna sollicitudin mollis sit amet ac urna. Duis nec tortor et ante dapibus vestibulum vitae eget purus. Phasellus eu enim vel quam pellentesque semper.
The following is a paragraph set in a contemporary typeface using one space between words and one space after periods.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Mauris consequat quam quis urna aliquam tincidunt rutrum magna pellentesque. Integer quam dolor, blandit non placerat non, tristique vitae eros. Cras id leo a dolor congue gravida. Integer mollis nibh sit amet enim cursus vitae imperdiet libero rhoncus. Curabitur neque nisi, viverra at ultricies ultrices, lobortis non metus. Quisque posuere aliquam dolor, non blandit lectus tincidunt luctus. Donec in magna et nibh semper blandit ut ac eros. Nulla nec elit sit amet dolor posuere ultrices non in justo. Curabitur congue tristique mollis. Aenean tincidunt metus quis nibh interdum vestibulum. Donec eget pulvinar urna. Donec velit tellus, porttitor ac cursus vel, euismod id nulla. Donec ac quam porttitor lorem sagittis sodales ac vitae dolor. Phasellus lobortis tortor eget nisl auctor accumsan pellentesque sem facilisis. Vestibulum sit amet eros tortor. Suspendisse potenti. Nulla et libero nec urna sollicitudin mollis sit amet ac urna. Duis nec tortor et ante dapibus vestibulum vitae eget purus. Phasellus eu enim vel quam pellentesque semper.
