[Blindtlk] a question of spacing

[T. Joseph Carter]

Ray,

The rise of the Internet and of email has resulted in an increase in 
paragraphs delineated by blank spaces between rather than the use of 
an indentation.

As for two spaces at the end of a sentence, you can't do it in HTML 
without inserting special characters into the text.  I would argue 
that has ended the use of two spaces, but I have heard it said that 
it was actually the use of proportional width fonts which have made 
it unnecessary.  I put two spaces at the end of my sentences with 
both fixed and proportional fonts, and I can tell the difference.  It 
is significant and it does assist readability, in my opinion.

Joseph


On Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 04:20:37PM -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