What NBSP means and does
Web design - 11/8/2007 at 16:23 CET
For such an easy to understand HTML entity, the non-breaking space (NBSP, ) is being misused way too often. Believe it or not, non-breaking spaces are just that — spaces where a line break will not occur. Meaning, you should not use them to simply add a bit of space between two words, sentences, or elements. Especially not elements. What may at first glance seem like a meaningless issue can in fact contribute greatly to your site’s semantic and overall quality.
Besides piling up ’s to achieve what should be done using CSS and padding or margin, you can also sometimes see people using  ’s to add an extra space between sentences. While it does increase readability in some cases and is especially effective for people with reading disabilities, using a space plus to achieve double spacing is wrong. An example follows:
Lorem ipsum. Dolor sit amet.
Which of course results in:
Lorem ipsum. Dolor sit amet.
Instead of this, consider using other entities, as explained in Richard Rutter’s article Use a single word space between sentences. Bear in mind that, while some people prefer a bit of extra space between sentences, others will find it irritating. It creates a large gap, which a lot of people are not at all used to.
One of the main reasons perhaps, why people use non-breaking spaces the way they shouldn’t, is the popular W3Schools, where you can read the following:
Normally HTML will truncate spaces in your text. If you write 10 spaces in your text HTML will remove 9 of them. To add spaces to your text, use the character entity.
Yup, that’s wrong. Ten spaces will become one, but you shouldn’t use the to get around that. Here’s an example where you should use a non-breaking space:
Mr. Smith
Which basically means a space will occur, but a line break will not, between words “Mr.” and “Smith”.
To expand a tiny bit more on the issue of writing, I urge you to pay more attention to punctuation. You web site will seem far, far less professional if your punctuation is not up to par.
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… :(
Author: Ivan Brezak Brkan, August 11th, 2007 at 19:22
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 ;)
Author: Bojan, August 11th, 2007 at 19:27
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.
Author: Aaron Bassett, August 13th, 2007 at 22:36
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”.
Author: Bojan, August 13th, 2007 at 23:12
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.
Author: Aaron Bassett, August 14th, 2007 at 0:28
*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.
Author: Brad, August 14th, 2007 at 3:18
To those wondering (and/or didn’t know why): that’s how Shaun Inman’s Widon’t works ;)
Author: Bramus!, August 17th, 2007 at 13:10
@Bramus: thanks for the link :)
Author: Bojan, August 17th, 2007 at 16:36
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.
Author: Matt Davies, August 23rd, 2007 at 18:58