Re: Thanks [was RE: Spaces after periods 'n such]

[Chris Morton <salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Touché, David.

 -----Original Message-----
> From: On Behalf Of David Neeley
> Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2010 11:46 PM
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Re: Spaces after periods 'n such
>
> Lauren,
>
> What you might do is one thing; I prefer to cultivate the sort of eye
> developed over centuries by type designers, layout artists, and those
> who appreciate fine typography. To such folks, double-spacing after
> periods in typset (printed) or online proportionally-spaced type is to
> ignore the type design.
>
> What you do in email is another matter entirely--that is a realm in
> which many people still use monospaced fonts. However, for the vast
> majority today that is not true either--and the double space still
> seems excessive.
>
> Double spacing--as with typewritten text--is often far too open to be
> easily followed by the eye at standard column widths. The concept of
> single, space-and-a-half, and double spacing are very rough
> approximations of the most visually effective and pleasing line
> leading--and, again, were introduced because of the limitations of the
> typewriter.
>
> Word processors, too, usually work on a formula for determining
> leading based mostly upon point size. As I mentioned before, though,
> that is at best another very rough approximation because of the
> different visual appearance of various fonts in what is ostensibly the
> same point size. It also breaks down quickly as the size is
> substantially changed either to be much smaller or much larger than
> average text. (As I also indicated, line leading is also a function of
> column width. The wider the column, the more leading should be
> increased as a general rule to make it easier for the eye to follow a
> given line as it is read; however, at some point it becomes too loose,
> and again the reading is constrained mostly because of a difficulty in
> shifting the eyes back to the beginning of the next line--too loose,
> and actually finding the next line becomes an issue).
>
> You are fortunate that you do not work for me; during my working
> lifetime, I was involved more than once in organizations in which part
> of my task was to help create a style guide for publications ranging
> from executive correspondence to sales collateral to technical pubs.
> Your seeming insistence upon such elements as double spacing after
> periods would have been an immediate violation of these corporate
> style guides. To many, this kind of thing also is a bit jarring
> visually, and often marks those of us with "more experience" (late
> middle age or beyond) as being somewhat antiquated.
>
> I also spent six years consulting with Xerox in California. They had
> developed an entire book about publication style--a large volume of
> 498 pages which is still available:
>
> http://www.amazon.com/Xerox-Publishing-Standards-Manual-Design/dp/0823059642/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1288334295&sr=1-1
>
> In it, you will find this sort of thing covered at some length IIRC.
>
> I would be quite interested if you can find any style guide that would
> support your approach on these matters.
>
> If your organization has a layout artist--perhaps in an outside agency
> that may prepare sales collateral--it is simple enough to bring up the
> topic and find out what these factors may look like from a
> professional standpoint. I would be interested if you find *any* who
> may agree with your approach.
>
> As I said before, this is a matter of the "eye of the beholder." I
> find that most folks today who stick with the "double space after
> periods" and such are mostly those who learned originally on a
> typewriter and for whom that simply became "natural". At 61, I
> obviously learned keyboarding on a typewriter--a manual one at
> that--but have long since moved on as I learned more about the most
> effective uses of typography.
>
> David
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