Re: [Groff] new automake system

[Clarke Echols]

On 10/03/2014 05:37 PM, Bertrand Garrigues wrote:

> It's OK for me to use 2 spaces after a full sentence.  But I'm not used
> to it, I've always been taught to use a single-space after a full stop
> (French spacing ?!).  I've just noticed that a lot of people on the list
> use 2 spaces after a full stop.  What is the main reason ?  I googled on
> this subject, I found out that two spaces are more traditional but less
> and less used.  Also, isn't groff by default displaying a single space
> after a full stop ?
>
> Regards,

Two spaces at end of sentence is standard US usage on typewriters, and
has been for a century or longer.

But when Microsoft came along with Word, they apparently decided to use
a single space that's the same as inter-word spacing.  The book printing 
industry hasn't always been consistent, from what I can tell,
but I found a magazine from 1950 where the spacing after the stop at
the end of the sentence is a bit wider than between words, though it's
hard to tell with spacing varied by left- and right-hand margins both
being adjusted.

In the magazine, the end-of-sentence appears to be about 1.2 or perhaps
1.4 times the word spacing.  I use the groff ".ss" request to set my
end-of-sentence spacing to 1.66 times inter-word spacing.

I find it easier to read because I read fast.  But most mass-produced
books for the US consumer market seem to use the same spacing
throughout, regardless of adjusted or ragged-right justification.

I suspect a lot of the reason, if there is one, is because so many
newcomers to publishing have what I think is a deficient education from
a decaying public education system declining literacy in the USA due
to more and more dependence on online communication and social media.

Clarke