Re: [xml2rfc] Word enforcing 1 space between sentences

[Carsten Bormann <[e-mail]>]

Hi Bob,

> On 2020-04-28, at 21:12, Robert Moskowitz <[e-mail]> wrote:
> 
> I recently saw a fluff piece about MS Word now enforcing 1 space between sentences.  If you put in 2 you get the terrible squiggly line (which you can always turn off with a right-click, ignore all).

As Bret said, this probably can be configured.

> The argument for single space is the font handles inter-sentence spacing just fine as mono-spacing went out with the typewriter....

Well, this is a long story I don't want to re-tell here.
Let's just say that there are some typographic fashions that don't respect the prime directive: Legibility.
I tend to ignore those.

But as Bill notes, the question of typographic presentation is somewhat distinct from the keyboarding convention.
People who expertly keyboard manuscripts for usage by document processing systems always try to indicate where sentence ends are and where they aren't.  
The document processing system can then decide on the presentation style of the day.

A double space is a conventional signal for keyboarding a sentence end; it has been for half a century now.
As is a newline.

I am (and I'd want to believe most people who have been using document processing systems since the 1970s are) used to the latter: end each sentence with a newline.
Look, ma, no double spaces in the manuscript, and still clearly indicated sentence ends!
(And look how much more readable the message becomes that way.
And, you'll notice, your git diffs do, too!)

Grüße, Carsten