stringbook

By Farhad Manjoo
January 13, 2011

The people who study and design the typewritten word decided long ago that we should use one space, not two, between sentences … Hundreds of years ago some typesetters would end sentences with a double space, others would use a single space, and a few renegades would use three or four spaces. Inconsistency reigned in all facets of written communication; there were few conventions regarding spelling, punctuation, character design, and ways to add emphasis to type. But as typesetting became more widespread, its practitioners began to adopt best practices. [James Felici, author of the The Complete Manual of Typography] writes that typesetters in Europe began to settle on a single space around the early 20th century. America followed soon after. Every modern typographer agrees on the one-space rule.