Forgive me if this doesn't specifically relate to standards, but perhaps it does.
I'm simply wondering about the grammatically-correct double space after a period. For years, it's never mattered to me, but I have a client who is a stickler for this sort of thing, and he asked if I could please add the extra spaces in his site.
What do you think? First of all, can this be done in CSS? Secondly, is this even proper with (X)HTML documents?
Thanks.
As everyone has said, the convention has been dropped. Should it have been?
As Terrence Wood said, "Apparently the convention comes about because it makes it easier to distinguish the end of a sentence, both from the preceding sentence and from mid-sentence abbreviations terminated with a period when using a typewriter. "
Something which no one has mentioned is the possible accessibility benefits of the extra spacing following the period. My thoughts are that the extra spacing will more easily distinguish the sentence for all, but particularly those with cognitive disabilities
I understand we're no longer using mono-spaced fonts (except when by choice) but perhaps that modern font kerning is not enough for some people with some issues
Unfortunately, I can't find any data to back me up on this. I know one person with extreme dyslexia who curses the day that folks turned their backs on the double-spacing. He says it slows him down dramatically
The only articles I could find on this are old, but I've included them for reference:
http://www.evolt.org/article/Two_Spaces_After_a_Period_Isn_t_Dead_Yet/25/213/
http://www.webword.com/reports/period.html
Anyone have on thoughts on the accessibility of this issue?
****************************************************** The discussion list for http://webstandardsgroup.org/
See http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm for some hints on posting to the list & getting help ******************************************************
