On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 11:11 am, Kathy Wheeler wrote: > On 16/10/2006, at 10:30 AM, michael ensor wrote: > > As someone who worked as a proof reader on a morning newspaper in the > > hot metal days, I can tell you that the "double space" after a > > period was a > > function of the typesetting machines, because the full stop slug > > and the following > > capital letter 'created' that appearance, not some received style > > guideline..... > > Interesting. However I seem to remember that my mother, who was > trained as a secretarial typist just after WW2, was meticulous about > using double spacing after the period. This was with old fashioned > mechanical typewriters and paper in an office situation. Nothing to > do with press or pre-press. > > IMHO although "unnecessary" it may be, double-spacing after the > period does improve the legibility and feel of typography. It would > be nice if there were some simple way, with CSS perhaps, to allow for > double spacing for those who cared, without affecting those who don't > give a hoot. > > Cheers, > KathyW.
IMHO, the only reason that the double spacing appears in US based material is because of the standard font point size used in the US. Standard font sizes used in the rest of the world are larger and more easily read than the dense 10 pt preferred in the US. As Michael has correctly pointed out the illusion of a second space in "hot metal" typesetting was the positioning of the full stop (and other punctuation if I remember correctly from my print estimator days) towards the left of the metal slug and not central like all the other characters. Heavy text sites should be encouraged to use slightly larger fonts and more white space to make the page/screen more readable. Quality over quantity always wins :-) -- Regards, Steve Bathurst Computer Solutions URL: www.bathurstcomputers.com.au e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mobile: 0407 224 251 .... _ ... (0)> ... / / \ .. / / . ) .. V_/_ Linux Powered! Registered Linux User #355382 ______________________________________________________________________ css-discuss [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.css-discuss.org/mailman/listinfo/css-d IE7b2 testing hub -- http://css-discuss.incutio.com/?page=IE7 List wiki/FAQ -- http://css-discuss.incutio.com/ Supported by evolt.org -- http://www.evolt.org/help_support_evolt/
