[Blindtlk] a question of spacing

[Steve Jacobson]

Ray,

Others more knowledgeable than I may comment on this, but I am some exposed to formats because I still use an Optacon.  It is very common now to see 
paragraphs that are not indented at all.  In fact, I think it is fair to say that they are more often not indented at all.  One still sees them both ways, though.

If one used a Pica typewriter, spacing was 10 characters per inch.  That means that five spaces equates to a half an inch.  Typewriters were fixed width machines, 
though, in that characters all have the same width.  This is true of some fonts, too, but most often we are using proportional fonts where characters have different 
widths.  Spaces tend to be characters that take less space.  Therefore, the safest way to indent a half inch is to either set a tab to be one-half inch in, or in Word 
you can define the first line of a paragraph to be indented without the need for you to do anything.

I have noticed that one space after the end of a sentence is getting more and more common, but to my knowledge, two spaces is still considered to be standard for 
separating sentences.  I'd be curious what others think, though.

I think what happens sometimes is that we learn formatting not by observing but by memorizing, some of us in typing or keyboarding classes.  Unless we go out of 
our way to observe, formatting styles can gradually change without our noticing.  We can determine that format changes, but it doesn't happen as automatically with 
our screen reading technology as it does on a screen or on a printed page.  Also, braille formatting is more locked in than is print formatting.  Indenting a paragraph in 
braille is more important because we don't waste the space by skipping a line between paragraphs so it is the only paragraph indicator we have.  Hopefully this 
makes some sense.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:20:37 -0500, Ray Foret jr wrote:

>Okay.

>Here's the observation.  I cannot help but notice that when I read an e-mail 
>from a sighted person, there is only one space following a sentence ending 
>period.  However, when I read most blind people's e-mails, (the ones I come 
>in to contact with anyhow) I cannot help but observe that there are two 
>spaces following a sentence ending period.  With some blind people's 
>e-mails, there is only one space following a sentence ending period.  Back 
>when I took typing in highschool, we were taught that when you end a 
>sentence with a period, you MUST space twice.  Also, paragraphs were to be 
>indented by spacing five times in from the left margin.  Nowadays, though, 
>it would appear that those rules are changed.  Are paragraphs still to be 
>indented five spaces in from the left margin?  And what about spacing after 
>sentence ending periods?  As for the five spaces, I rather suspect that this 
>was done so as to put the first letter of the first line of the paragraph 
>one half inch from the left margin; using pyka type.  With Microsoft word, 
>the number of spaces needed to put the insertion point one half inch from 
>the left margin appears to be twelve.  Thoughts?  Am I missing something 
>somewhere?

>Sincerely,
>The Constantly BAREFOOTED Ray

>"Old friend, what are you looking for?  After those many years abroad you 
>come With images you tended Under foreign skies Far away from your own land"
>George Seferis

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