One space or two between sentences?

On Blogger it's ONE.

Cutting to the chase...

In the one versus two space debate -- practically speaking, if you use two spaces between sentences in your Blogger pages or posts, they will sometimes wrap, causing some lines of continuing text to be indented by one space. So - for Blogger anyway, only use one space between sentences. (In Web design in general, multiple spaces are condensed down to one anyway, so it doesn't matter. For some reason Blogger is different, and it inserts a code to force as many spaces as you want.)

Here's an illustration of Blogger's two-space issue in the following paragraph. The sentences are all separated by two spaces:

The beginning of the 3rd line has alignment issues, due to my 2nd space.

The Debate (Blogger aside)

Is it actually wrong to use two spaces between sentences?

Yes. And... no.

It depends on who you talk to!  And, it depends on the setting.  (Are you typing a blog post, a letter, text for a poster, etc.?)  Believe it or not, it may also depend on the image you wish to convey of yourself.

Two spaces between sentences was the convention in the days of the mechanical typewriter, which had monospaced characters. It took two spaces after a period to give enough visual breathing room before the next sentence.

In the digital era, the two-space convention has lingered, even though it is not necessary (especially with those of us old enough to have learned to type on actual typewriters).

The Two-space Haters

www.cultofpedagogy.com/two-spaces-after-period/

These days, the convention is to use one space between sentences. There are those who interpret this very strictly, and insist that using two spaces is very wrong. They have some good points.

One is Jennifer Gonzalez at Cult of Pedagogy.





Farhad Manjoo puts it this way in his essay on Slate.com (Space Invaders):

Typing two spaces after a period is totally, completely, utterly, and inarguably wrong.

The Official Word for Writers

The Chicago Manual of Style and the MLA Handbook both concur that the current convention for most situations is to use one space after a period. They do, however, leave some wiggle room (www.mlahandbook.org/fragment/faq).

Publications in the United States today usually have the same spacing after a punctuation mark as between words on the same line. Since word processors make available the same fonts used by typesetters for printed works, many writers, influenced by the look of typeset publications, now leave only one space after a concluding punctuation mark. In addition, most publishers’ guidelines for preparing electronic manuscripts ask authors to type only the spaces that are to appear in print. 

Because it is increasingly common for papers and manuscripts to be prepared with a single space after all punctuation marks, this spacing is shown in the examples in the MLA Handbook and the MLA Style Manual. As a practical matter, however, there is nothing wrong with using two spaces after concluding punctuation marks unless an instructor or editor requests that you do otherwise.

For Graphic Designers and Desktop Publishers

Some graphic designers are among the strict one-space disciples. Others will tell you that what matters is readability - and if two spaces look more readable than one in a certain situation, then use two. Here are some of the ins and outs of the issue at desktoppub.about.com, including this reasonable recommendation:

The Bottom Line: Professional typesetters, designers, desktop publishers, and anyone who truly cares about fonts and typography should use only one space after a period or other ending punctuation. However, it doesn't necessarily need to be a standard space character. Desktop Publishing software makes it easy to experiment with other space characters to achieve the best appearance on a case-by-case basis. Save the double spaces for typewriting, casual email, term papers (if prescribed by the style guide you are using), or personal correspondence. Learn how to remove extra spaces between sentences. For everyone else, do whatever makes you feel good.

Your Spaces Give You Away

One final consideration - when applying for a job with a company that is inclined to want younger folks as employees, you may want to stick with the one-space rule in your cover letter and resume. Typing two spaces between sentences identifies you as someone who probably learned typing back when the convention was two spaces.

Check these out: Double Spacing After a Period Could Reveal Your Age and Nothing Says Over 40 Like Two Spaces after a Period!

My Problem (Mr. Olson)

I think that sometimes two spaces after sentences makes text more readable. However, I do want to change over to using just one -- on Blogger, I have to. There's a slight problem though....

9th Grade Typing Class, 1976

Spacing twice after sentences is a very difficult habit to unlearn. It was drilled into us repeatedly in 9th-grade typing class. Every period I have ever typed at the end of a sentence in the 38 years since then has been followed by two spaces. It's hard-wired into my brain and my muscle memory. You'll likely see evidence of that in many of my Blogger posts!

I have to concentrate really hard to make myself hit the space bar only once after a period. So, if you see me twitching slightly or making funny faces as I'm typing, you know why!