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Subject:Two spaces after a full stop From:"Peter Ring, PRC" <prc -at- PIP -dot- DKNET -dot- DK> Date:Mon, 15 Jul 1996 09:20:34 +1
Hi techwhirlers,
I have followed the discussion on two spaces after a full stop with
great interest. If handled in the right spirit, it seems that there
are few disadvantages, the major ones being lack of acceptance, old
habits and lazy (!) writers.
What for me is the most important point is:
It is evident, that at least _some_ people find it easier to
read a text with two spaces after a full stop. That's enough for
me to use it! I have not seen any argument, that it is less
_user friendly_ in any way! And who are we writing for? Our
selves, our colleagues, or ... ?
So if you want to improve the user friendliness of the manuals you
are writing: use two spaces after a full stop, "?" and "!".
For automatic handling, don't expect word processors to handle it
automatically. You can write a macro, but make sure it handles
situations like "approx. 15 ...", etc. correctly. The safest way is
to use manually controlled "find and replace" until it is a habit.
To make sure your proofreader and/or editor knows that it is NOT an
error, notify them that you use this rule and why.
Greetings from Denmark
Peter Ring
PRC - specialist in user friendly manuals and quality measurements on
manuals.
prc -at- pip -dot- dknet -dot- dk http://www.pip.dknet.dk/~pip323/index.htm
- homepage on user friendly instruction manuals with tips for
instruction manual writers.
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