Re: Extra space after punctuation marks

[Robert M. McClure]

This subject was discussed at length in the typetalk mail list a
short while back.  Consensus seems to have been that double spaces
are strictly an artifact of old typing habits.  If, for visual
reasons, a little more space after periods, colons, exclamation
points, etc. is desired, most commentators consider it generally
acceptable (and often used).  No commentators advocated two full
spaces.  One suggestion was to use an en-space between words and
an em-space between sentences.  I, personally, like this, but some
do not.  (Beauty, of course, is in the eye of the beholder.)

Someone noted that Dr. Knuth puts extra space between sentences.
Not so. Quoting from the original TeX book:

        Consider, for example, the following sentence from a classic
        kindergarten pre-primer:

           ``Oh, oh!'' cried Baby Sally. Dick and Jane laughed.

        If TeX sets this at its natural width, all the spaces will
        be the same.

However, Knuth *does* increase the stretchability (not the shrinkability)
of spaces after punctuation, so that if it necessary to lengthen
the line such spaces will become larger than standard interword spaces.