How many spaces when typing?

EVGR

When typing, is one or two spaces after the full stop correct in English?

This refers to typing on a wordprocessor - pc.

Is there a rule book for this?

Owen

Two.

Slow Motion

Used to be two, but now one is acceptable also, although I still use two, Old Skool me !;)

EVGR

Thank you for reply but I'm interested in what the correct way is now, not what it used to be.

Are both ways acceptable? Is either more correct?

aequinoctium

i personally just use one

Tar.Aldarion

One, two was just used because it looked better on a typewriter. We do not use them anymore.

Hermione*

I use one space.

Talliesin

One.

Two is a historical legacy. It's like saying "ye" as a plural form of "you".

Victor

Talliesin wrote:

Two is a historical legacy. It's like saying "ye" as a plural form of "you".

You so aren't from Cork then.

Two spaces can be useful with certain fonts and situations.

Talliesin

The rendering software should adapt to the font without you doing so. Typists should press the spacebar to mean "a space goes here", anything beyond that is for a typographer to worry about, not the typer.

Victor

Talliesin wrote:

The rendering software should adapt to the font without you doing so. Typists should press the spacebar to mean "a space goes here", anything beyond that is for a typographer to worry about, not the typer.

If I am typing, say a letter or report (not a book or other document that would have a typographer) in Courier, all characters are hte same size and double spacing is not needed. If I was typing in Time New Roman with both the left and right margins justified there might be cases wher ehte word processor compresses to much text onto one line for me to be comfortable with, adding a double space might improve things.

Victor

Talliesin wrote:

The rendering software should adapt to the font without you doing so. Typists should press the spacebar to mean "a space goes here", anything beyond that is for a typographer to worry about, not the typer.

If I am typing, say a letter or report (not a book or other document that would have a typographer) in Courier, all characters are hte same size and double spacing is not needed. If I was typing in Time New Roman with both the left and right margins justified there might be cases wher ehte word processor compresses to much text onto one line for me to be comfortable with, adding a double space might improve things.

monkeyfudge

One space is perfectly acceptable in the real world... but I believe if you don't do two spaces in a typing exam you'll probably fail.