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Subject:One space (or two) after a paragraph? From:Steven Jong <stevefjong -at- comcast -dot- net> To:TECHWR-L Digest <TECHWR-L -at- LISTS -dot- TECHWR-L -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 21 Aug 2015 22:08:56 -0400
Not to start a new holy war, but--oh, it's Friday, why not?
In working on source files created by others, I sometimes come across examples where the other writer has ended all paragraphs with a space character. When it happens, it's clearly deliberate: One space at the end of each paragraph and list item. I've seen it in files created in Word, Frame, XMetaL, you name it, so it's the writer, not the tool.
I can see some utility in this practice if you want to add a new word or sentence at the end, or you want to move blocks of text around, because you'll more likely avoid the error of a missing space. But to me it seems more effort than it's worth, and to users it's literally invisible.
I once got into a bad situation where I was silently fighting with another writer over the course of several revisions of a document. When I worked on it, I removed all the trailing spaces; when she worked on it, she put them back in. (Talk about more trouble than it's worth...!) Neither of us ever mentioned what we were doing aloud.
So: Do you do it? Why or why not?
â Steve
ââ
Steven Jong mailto:SteveFJong -at- comcast -dot- net
Mobile: 978-413-2553
Home sweet home page: StevenJong.net
âReading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.ââFrancis Bacon
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