Since, as you quite accurately point out, HTML removes extraneous spaces (if you want extra spaces to appear in the browser display, you have to encode them explicitly), then WTF does it matter how many spaces you type? Why should he care?
In the case of proportional fonts in word processors, double-spacing is still desirable. It really does affect the amount of space that appears in the document, and it's useful to distinguish the end of a sentence from the space after the period in an abbreviation like "St. Louis". If they're the same, I find it disconcerting.
That's if the document is not to be further edited. On occasion I've written documents which are to be professionally typeset by someone who's going to go over all the kerning with care, and they request me to leave only one space after sentences to assist them in their work. Fine; in that case it's quick-and-easy to make a global change after I write the document, without having to change my typing habits.
no subject
Date: 2011-01-15 05:31 am (UTC)Since, as you quite accurately point out, HTML removes extraneous spaces (if you want extra spaces to appear in the browser display, you have to encode them explicitly), then WTF does it matter how many spaces you type? Why should he care?
In the case of proportional fonts in word processors, double-spacing is still desirable. It really does affect the amount of space that appears in the document, and it's useful to distinguish the end of a sentence from the space after the period in an abbreviation like "St. Louis". If they're the same, I find it disconcerting.
That's if the document is not to be further edited. On occasion I've written documents which are to be professionally typeset by someone who's going to go over all the kerning with care, and they request me to leave only one space after sentences to assist them in their work. Fine; in that case it's quick-and-easy to make a global change after I write the document, without having to change my typing habits.