Re: [Groff] [Heirloom] Double word space after :

[Mike Bianchi]

On Thu, Nov 13, 2014 at 08:17:50PM -0600, Dave Kemper wrote:
> On 11/12/14, Carsten Kunze <address@hidden> wrote:
> > by default Heirloom troff inserts a double word space if a line ends with
> > ":".  Is this correct US English typography?
> 
> Most modern US typography uses the same amount of space for everything
> on the line: between sentences, between words, and after any
> punctuation that requires a following space.  (Here, "modern" refers
> to the past 50 years or so; see
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_sentence_spacing#Movement_to_single_sentence_spacing)
> 
> So the default groff behavior of adding additional space between
> sentences also does not follow today's typical US typography.  You
> would have to specify ".ss 12 0" to achieve US convention.

It seems ease of reading or better comprehension (which are the reasons I
prefer extra space after sentences, etc.) have nothing to do with "the rules."
Sigh.

-- 
 Mike Bianchi