There was a whole bunfight a few months back about this – check the archives. I would like to answer – do what you think looks best and b***** the rules, but I know I will get howled down for that. One space is technically correct. As justification, you will be quoted lots of stuff about the old rules being for typewriters, and lots of stuff about proportional fonts etc, but I would say, print a dense paragraph with one space, and print the same dense paragraph with two spaces, and make up your own mind. If your text is left justified, there is no contest as far as I am concerned - two spaces is easier to read than one. If it is left and right justified, it might be up for debate. Who gets to make the rules anyway? Does God write the Chicago Manual of Style – now that would be a problem, an American as God! So you are safe to state one space if you want to be compliant. But do you really want to start making and enforcing rules about something so trivial? Do you want to put all your “two spacers” off side? Be warned, if you do what Rhonda has just suggested, we can get really nasty about it, and you may regret your temerity! Is it worth starting WWIII (or should that be IV) over? And once a “two-spacer” has decided to thumb their nose at that rule, and set Word back to where they want it, well, that’s the beginning of the end isn’t it? Non-compliance creeps in and then where will you be? Heaven forbid, you might even get writers using conjunctions at the start of a sentence, then you know “the end is nigh”. You should really be asking, who reads a style guide anyway and how can you get anyone at all to follow one, ever? You do it by keeping it as short and simple as possible and only including things that are critical to corporate look and feel, and readability. One or two spaces is not exactly critical. My advice – ignore it. No-one else will notice or care. ck From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of O'Connor, Deirdre [Beacon Technology] Sent: Friday, 18 January 2008 5:56 PM To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: atw: Extra spacing after full stop Can anyone provide a yes/no answer to the question of whether extra spacing between sentences should/shouldn't be used in Manual/Guideline/Standard type documentation? I find many professionals use two spaces after each full stop and as a Technical Writer this bothers me. After researching it (Chicago Manual of Style and various Google pages) I have found that it is not correct practice. Chicago Manual of Style: "2.12 Line spacing and word spacing For the hard copy, the entire text and, if possible, all extracts, notes, bibliography, index, and other material should be vertically double-spaced. A single character space, not two spaces, should be left after periods at the ends of sentences (both in manuscript and in final, published form) and after colons." I am writing up a Formatting Guide for my company and I would like to state that extra spacing should not be used as common practice but I would just like any other opinions/facts on this please. Thanks. No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.6/1230 - Release Date: 17/01/2008 4:59 PM No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.6/1230 - Release Date: 17/01/2008 4:59 PM