Web Site Promotion | About | Contact | Web Design News |

 

Search Engine expert ChicagoAnimation's top of the line services:

Web Site Promotion - We Guarantee you #1 listing in Yahoo and Google.

Flash Template customize service - We invented a way for small business owners to be able to afford a high end Flash site.

Pay Per Click management service - We help your small business to manage and bid on valuable keywords that can help produce profits for your business.

Press Release service - We help you launch your press release to news sources (reporters) through out the United States and all over the world.


One Space or Two?

 

Search Engine Specialist

search engine expert Free Internet Marketing consultings from ChicagoAnimation.
To use this free service please fill out the form below and we will call you to offer you free tips.

* First Name: * Last Name:
* Email Address: * Phone Number:
Street Address: City:
ZipCode: Your State (2 Letters):
URL (if available): Your Cell Phone #:
Company Name:
How long has your website been live?
What services or packages can we help you with?

How may we help you?
My current budget is. . .



One of my subscribers writes 'I can't hold my tongue any longer...not that that is fun or anything, I just had to tell you something! Just a tiny 'lil thing. You have 2 spaces after each period. Unless you are typing on an "old fashioned" typewriter, on a computer you use only one space. This is part of my business, graphic design. I hate to criticize but I know you want to be professional and that stands out. It creates a visual break in the copy making it like a stutter in reading. This is a common mistake for those not "in the field".'

I love that my subscribers are reading my copy carefully. My readers need this formatting tip to write their own copy. There's lots of contradictory information on www.google.com if you ask the question of 1 space or 2 spaces at the end of a sentence. Even though it isn't the subject of friendly mail, angry mail, or even 'thought you oughta know' mail, I am always open to tips from the graphic design side to help me improve my site.

Let's talk about the evolution of writing copy. I learned in Journalism School to use 2 spaces at the end of a sentence because we were taught to write using a typewriter. We didn't even think about the why, but adding that extra space at end of each sentence was simply for readability until the personal computer became a household word and changed all that.

It helps to understand the lost language of 'typewriterese', because the letter "W" takes up as much space as a "1" on the original typewriter. Skinny letters take less space while wide letters take up more space so the extra space added after each sentence make it easier to see where one sentence stops and the next begins.

Just like the computer today, the space- efficient Linotype machine was a revolutionary machine used by newspapers and print shops. The operator filled each letter and space with a line o' type cast in lead. Wedges were used for spaces, rectangles for letters. If the operator used 2 spaces or 2 wedges it gummed up the line o' type, so only 1 space was used. Of course, the publishing industry embraced 1 space long before that and continues to follow that rule.

A copyeditor at The University of Chicago (Chicago Manual of Style) thinks, "In our efficient, modern world, there is not room for 2 spaces at the end of a sentence."

Publishers want single spaces after periods. Most desktop publishers believe desktop publishing (electronic type-setting) should follow the commercial publishers rule, "One space at the end of a sentence."

Two spaces can cause problems with line breaks in certain programs. Web pages use only one space between sentences. HTML is set up to only display one space no matter how many are typed. A browser, like Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer, will only display one.

Should sentences be separated by 1 or 2 spaces? Yes.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

International copywriting trainer, author and speaker, Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero has been a freelance writer and journalist for over 25 years. Her words have made her clients hundreds of thousands of dollars. Now she focuses her vast experience on teaching others the skill of copywriting. Lorrie is the author of a highly acclaimed copywriting course, creator of the Red Hot Copywriting Bootcamp and founder of Copy Campus, a unique membership resource site designed to support copywriters and entrepreneurs on all levels. Visit her site to learn more at http://www.red-hot-copy.com.

 

MORE RESOURCES:

Bleacher Report

Mining the Community: Teamwork Is the Key to Bleacher Report's ...
Bleacher Report, CA - Nov 21, 2008
by Colin Flosi (Analyst) The potential of Bleacher Report, as I have stated before, is nearly limitless. The community involvement obviously is the key to ...


Singer Laura Pausini welcomes "Early Spring"
Reuters - 16 hours ago
When she's not writing articles, Pausini speaks to her international audience through recordings and concerts. "Primavera Anticipada" (Early Spring), ...


Bleacher Report

Charlotte Bobcats-Dallas Mavericks: Bobcats Drop Another One
Bleacher Report, CA - Nov 20, 2008
Well, well, well, I hate writing articles like this because I hate seeing the Bobcats lose. Oh I know why because they cannot play one bit of defense. ...


Solomon Jones: My kid is out to write some wrongs
Philadelphia Daily News, PA - 10 hours ago
But that didn't stop some lady from telling my sister-in-law that I was writing articles in the paper about, um, marital relations. ...


BigNews.biz (press release)

Low cost successful internet home based business with adsenselover
BigNews.biz (press release), MA - 1 hour ago
Writing articles for Adsense is the way to do it. Using the right keywords in your articles and having Google ads on a certain site has become the most ...


UNlisted going strong at 15!
The Republican - MassLive.com, MA - Nov 10, 2008
One day, in the eighth grade, I realized that writing articles could be the perfect way to inform the community about what was going on around them, ...


Best Syndication

One Sheet Posters And Its relation With Movies
Best Syndication, CA - 21 hours ago
Patrick Arden is a professional writer, presently he is writing articles on iron maiden posters, jimi Hendrix posters, led zeppelin posters, ...


Orato

Rena LeBlanc
Orato - Nov 17, 2008
Rena Dictor LeBlanc is an award-winning journalist whose articles have been published in major magazines and newspapers worldwide. ...


Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly

Downturns for dummies
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, MA - Nov 21, 2008
We are constantly writing articles, trying to put analytical pieces together to show that we’re in the marketplace, to show that we’ve got strategies. ...


Best Syndication

Skateboarding Posters: The Best Way of Decoration
Best Syndication, CA - 21 hours ago
Patrick Arden is a professional writer, presently he is writing articles on nature posters, architecture posters, bob Marley posters, clander, ...

Writing-Articles - Google News

ChicagoAnimation's Acquisitions: Market Polls - 1pennyStock.com
Sponsors: Paving | VTL's | Religious Statues