Q: When working on documents I currently use two spaces after a full stop and one after a comma – is this incorrect or is it acceptable?
A: Current global best practice is one space across the board – after a full stop (period) and after general in-text punctuation. Contemporary word processing does things so neatly these days, automatically, that we don’t need to apply the old-fashioned typewriter-days rule of two spaces after a full stop.
I found the following explanation in a book:
“Thou Shall Not Use Comic Sans”
365 Graphic Design Sins and Virtues: A Designer’s Almanac of Dos and Don’ts.
It explains where the double spacing originated. Thought you might enjoy. 🙂
“Ever since the
introduction of movable type, the correct
amount of space following a period has
been a source of debate. Type set by
hand utilized variously sized “spacers”
depending on the chosen font and it was
down to the compositor to decide what
looked right. The introduction of the
typewriter in the late 19th century
changed all this because the type was
monospaced, meaning each letter was
allocated the same character width.
A single space after a period was
deemed insuffcient so the practice of double-spacing was taught widely, with
hot-metal Linotype operators adopting
the convention alongside regular typing-
pool employees. Nowadays, modern
digital fonts contain proportional
kerning pairs and a slightly wider
space is always added after a period,
so a double space is no longer required.
It’s ultimately down to the typographer
but the convention is, always add a
single space after a period. “TS
see: http://www.creativeedge.com/book/-/9780132907224/type-and-typography/59