[Blindtlk] a question of spacing

[Ron Poire]

Makes great sense to me.

Ron


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com>
To: "Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>; "Ray Foret jr" 
<rforetjr at comcast.net>
Sent: Friday, June 19, 2009 4:45 PM
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] a question of spacing


> 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
>
>>Phone or Fax::
>>+1 (985) 360-3614
>>Cell:
>>+1 (985) 791-2938
>>e-mail:
>>rforetjratcomcastdotnet
>>Skype Name:
>>barefootedray
>
>
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>
>
>
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