Single spacing, double spacing, and doing It ones own way?

Subject: Single spacing, double spacing, and doing It ones own way?
From: Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 10 May 2004 21:22:14 -0400


Steven Oppenheimer probably wondered what I was smoking when I responded to his query earlier this evening: he was asking about "single spacing between sentences, not double-spacing", which I misread as "line spacing" and proceeded to go off on a wild tangent to the original question. <blush> Alas, wasn't smoking anything, so I have to blame fatigue and the occasional desire to lecture.

Thanks to those who kindly pointed out my error privately. D'oh! Okay, once more unto the breach!

<<But to my eye, double-spacing looks better -- it helps each sentence stand out more clearly -- and my philosophy has always been to follow my judgement if/when the conventions seem flawed.>>

I doubt most people will ever notice the difference in ragged-right text, but if you're setting text with full justification, the extra space can create distracting rivers or make those that are already present more noticeable. Not necessarily a major problem, but still one worth paying attention to.

But if you can't demonstrate a clear advantage to your audience, changing something they're familiar with serves little purpose. Worse, if it draws attention to itself, it defeats the purpose of good typography: supporting reading, not drawing attention to itself. (That statement, of course, doesn't apply to ornamental type, whose purpose is indeed to draw attention, sometimes at the expense of legibility.)

--Geoff Hart ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca
(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)


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References:
Single Spacing, Double Spacing, and Doing It Ones Own Way: From: Steven Oppenheimer

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