Monday, May 07, 2018

"two-spacers...have science on their side"

Another salvo in the ongoing quiet war between old-schoolers who insist you should put two spaces after a period and new-schoolers who insist on only a single space because reasons. Tentative conclusion: two spaces after a period improves the smoothness (and not necessarily the speed) of the reading experience. So all y'all one-spacin' muthafuckaz take DAT.

The major reason to use two spaces, the researchers wrote, was to make the reading process smoother, not faster. Everyone tended to spend fewer milliseconds staring at periods when a little extra blank space followed it.

(Putting two spaces after a comma,  if you're wondering,  slowed down reading speed,  so don't do that.)

The study's authors concluded that two-spacers in the digital age actually have science on their side, and more research should be done to “investigate why reading is facilitated when periods are followed by two spaces.”

To be fair, the above-linked article heavily implies that this most recent study settles nothing, which is why I label it as merely "another salvo." Expect more studies, with contradictory findings, soon. For the record, I'm a two-spacer myself, but Blogger "corrects" my spacing when it publishes my posts, so you'd never know my preference unless you read my emails. While I hate to defend Google on any matter whatsoever, I'm compelled to affirm that Gmail, at least, offers the writer a choice.



4 comments:

Charles said...

Let's be real. Three spaces is the way to go.

Surprises Aplenty said...

I am somewhat set in my habits. I was trained to add two spaces after a period. I'd sure like this to be true.

Kevin Kim said...

Charles,

In the movie "Lone Survivor," we learn that part of the Navy SEALs' unofficial motto is, "Anything worth doing is worth overdoing."

John Mac said...

I learned to type on an actual typewriter, and two spaces was the standard. I'm old school and I ain't changing. WordPress doesn't interfere thankfully.

Now, get off my lawn!