Comments on: What NBSP means and does

By: The FME Evangelist » FME Evangelist#24: Click Connect, Concatenator, Log Files, and FME Training

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 07:02:19 +0000

[...] ve a single line up without having to press UP many, many, many times. Oh, and yes, I know I shouldn’t use &nbsp – but like many [...]

By: Matt Davies

Matt Davies — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 16:58:53 +0000

I think its an old fashioned typographic delusion that an extra space helps you to see that there is a new sentence starting – surely thats the job of a full stop?! Good article. Lets stop using this, not only on the web but in normal print docs as well.

By: Bojan

Bojan — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 14:36:43 +0000

@Bramus: thanks for the link :)

By: Bramus!

Bramus! — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 11:10:57 +0000

To those wondering (and/or didn't know why): that's how Shaun Inman's Widon't works ;)

By: Brad

Brad — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 01:18:59 +0000

*sigh*
your right, but old habits are hard to break. I (and many of my peers) have gotten a lot better about not using bad practices like this since moving away from table based design.

By: Aaron Bassett

Aaron Bassett — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 22:28:15 +0000

I don’t think you can place a blanket ban on all uses of the period double space format in web typography. Different typefaces, even proportional may still have higher legability with the additional space.

I agree that in the majority of situations it is not required but that does not mean it covers all situations.

When setting out your own typography for a project it is something you need to look at and assess for yourself within your own unique settings.

By: Bojan

Bojan — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 21:12:28 +0000

Aaron, the double space method, as you say, was used with monospaced fonts, where an extra space was badly needed. Perhaps that rule is now forgotten due to the fact that with proportional typefaces, we do not need it? I declared the double space method as wrong, because it is in fact a modern typography rule that a single space should be used. For instance, this is explained in The Complete Manual of Typography, where James Felici says: "The typewriter tradition of separating sentences with two word spaces after a period has no place in typesetting".

By: Aaron Bassett

Aaron Bassett — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 20:36:49 +0000

I have to disagree on your point about adding an extra space after a sentence.

In traditional print it has been a long standing convention that following a word or comma you leave a single space. After a period you leave two.

This is due to the fact that text used to be mono-spaced and leaving the additional space increased readability.

However now that we no longer need to work with mono-spaced fonts this rule is generally forgotten. Personally I think there is advantages to both methods and I would not simply declare one as wrong. Especially if I did not know the reason behind it.

By: Ivan Brezak Brkan

Ivan Brezak Brkan — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 18:22:23 +0000

Ok, I get it I get it… Bojan was inspired to write this article by my article Web standardi – ključni za uspjeh na internetu which unfortunately is still not properly formatted. I have to have a talk about their CMS… :(

By: Bojan

Bojan — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 17:37:14 +0000

Yes and no :)
The NBSP that either is or was in that article was most probably just a mistake, I don’t think someone really meant to put it there. However, WYSIWYG editors and Content Management Systems are sometimes responsible for the misused non-breaking spaces.

The article was just something that I thought needed saying.

BTW That’s a nicely styled signup page you have there ;)