How many spaces should go after a period?

One

Two

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posted 01-25-2011 by Jon

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Slate recently published an incredibly pedantic post about how "wrong" it is to use two spaces after a period. It was so annoying we're thinking about moving to two spaces just for fun. What do you think?

Debate It! 14

Although the Slate dude comes off as a smug dick, I do think that it should be one space after a period.

Posted By Rebecca, 01-25-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

One. But how many after a question mark?

Posted By ericlander, 01-25-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

Two used to be the standard, but I don't care as long as it's consistent.

Posted By lockheed40, 01-25-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

Don't let a Slate-hole ruin a good thing. Reduce wear and tear on your space bar. One space after a period is enough.

Posted By Brash Equilibrium, 01-25-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

Ahh, Slate. Pointing out first world problems since 1996.

Posted By Actionamy, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

In high school typing class (yes I went to school before schools had computer class) we were always taught two spaces. Since I've started working in the online space in the past 10 years, one has become the standard. When I edit other people's work that use two spaces, I find that it (a) looks incorrect and (b) leads to many inconsistencies with spacing throughout the doc.

Posted By stephwoods, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

You can make me stop typing with two spaces after the period when I'M DEAD. DEAD.

Posted By jogden, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

Yeah steph, my computer teacher said the same thing. The teachers clearly brought this with them from the typewriter days. Glad you were able to break the habit, cause you're right, two spaces make things look retarded. Besides, HTML by design collapses 2 or more spaces to one automatically so if you write for online, it usually takes care of itself :)

Posted By dx280, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

I too leaned double spaces in typing class (thought it was computers, sorry Stephwoods). Since joining the online world and giving my editor an undeserved amount of grief, I have re-trained to single spaces. Don't make me change again!

Posted By SaraMcGinnis, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)

Quislings!

Posted By jogden, 01-26-2011 (1 years and 3 months)