Computer typing: one space or two after a fullstop?

[Cahir]

Yep it's coming up as one!

 

[Welfarite]

so THAT's why justified text goes abnormaly wrong for me! my mother taught me the 2 space rule but reckon it could be civil service hang up bred in by the nuns (cover your ears Clubman ). personally i scan text (work related stuff) and find the lack of 2 spaces after a sentence a bit off putting. that said, i adhere to the 2 space rule yet dont use capitals at the begining of a sentence, can barely spell without spell checker and would have a job to point out a noun in a sentence, so perhaps the new rule should be whatever works for Word!!

2 space rule was used pre-computer days by all typists who recieved proper training. Remember, these guys had to type perfectly at 60 WPM. Computers have made the rules of typing obsolete, what with autocorrect, etc, etc. so we all are probably incompetent and an insult to the typist profession!

As a test, try getting an old typrewriter, now put in your carbon and type a perfect letter for your boss from your shorthand dictation notes in five muinutes flat!

 

[DrMoriarty]

Re: Computer typing

O, here goes.......................................
[...]
Oh This post will be deleted if not edited to remove bad language, [...]

Gordanus, you might strive for greater consistency in your use of interjections (with or without commas).

 

[Lauren]

Was taught by a nun with a big stick on a manual typewriter and it was always two spaces after a full stop. Typewriter had stickers covering all the keys so we learned how to touchtype...However in computer keyboard training we were told to ignore that rule as word processing packages allow for a little more space after a full stop? As other posters have said, when you start justifying text that has the two spaces, it can look really odd.....
I used to hate typing class (and the mad nun)...but am happy today that I can touch type....!

 

[noilh]

I always put two as putting only doesn't look well and the sentences appear to run into one another. It's easier to read a document if you have 2 or 3 spaces after full stops.

 

[Rois]

Taught by nuns and Irish Times Training to always leave 2 spaces after a full stop...

 

[onq]

Re: Computer typing

Been typing on PCs since 1990, self taught. Never heard of two space rule until today. Now I'm wondering about all the business letters I sent over those years. Have I been the butt of office jokes all over the country !! I'll never look at a space the same way again.

Take it easy or you'll end up spaced out Graham_07.

ONQ.

 

[pudds]

It's funny with computer addresses no abbreviations seem to be required nowadays:-

eg.

Joe Soap
Danger Avenue
Dundrum
Dublin 14

 

[Marion]

It's funny with computer addresses no abbreviations seem to be required nowadays:-

eg.

Joe Soap
Danger Avenue
Dundrum
Dublin 14

That's a new fangled thing called "Open Punctuation"

Marion

 

[ajapale]

It's funny with computer addresses no abbreviations seem to be required nowadays:-

eg.

Joe Soap
Danger Avenue
Dundrum
Dublin 14

I imagine that the reason for this is that many databases are exported and imported in comma (or other special character) deliminated format.

While the big corporate systems are able to deal with this little databases that you run up on ms access or excel are not.

Its just as easy to instruct no commas or special characters in the data base and then to put the puncutation in the out put document as required. Addresses such as the one above arise when the punction is not added to the output document.

 

[dmos87]

I have done a secretarial course and it was drilled into us all to use two spaces after a full stop. Habit dies after a while though, and most people dont give a toss.