Typing
A message to the world:
We now use computers.
Perhaps you learned to type on a typewriter. Or perhaps you learned from someone who had learned on a typewriter. Perhaps it’s just that you somehow, inexplicably escaped the news that computers are different than typewriters (kind of like how I never realized Whitney Houston was singing about the greatest love of all, and not a gray test…). At any rate, you need to know something very, very important:
You need only press the spacebar ONCE after a period.
If you need a moment to process that news, please do. :) But, be assured, this news is no joke. It is 100% true. Accurate. Fair and balanced. You see, back in the old typewriter days, two spaces after a period made some sense. I suppose it makes a sentence look a little nicer to have a bit more space between it and another sentence than is merely between words. This is why computers were designed to lengthen that space automatically. Ah, yes. See, this is why computers are better than typewriters—they do extras for us.
Consequently, it is now no longer appropriate, aesthetic, or reasonable to press the spacebar twice after a period. Doing so only creates a tremendously huge, jarring, ugly white spot on your paper—over and over and over again. Huge white spots everywhere! Olympic long jumps just to get from the end of one sentence to the beginning of the next! If you are an abuser of the spacebar, please protect the beauty of your product and the sanity of your reader by curbing your spacebar addiction. You might even find that it has benefits for yourself as well! You’ll save time. You’ll promote hand health by pressing fewer keys. And, you might not notice a difference at first, but your eyes and mind will be more at ease as you proofread your own work. More than anything, you’ll be able to rest comfortably with the sweet assurance that yes, you finally belong with a computer. Welcome. :)
If you choose to ignore this public service announcement, at the very least, please…. Get a typewriter. :)
(Written by Auburn and Matt Williams, available on their password-protected site wmsgotsoul.com.)
