Periods and Commas: Computers vs Typewriters
Typewriters are over 150 years old. These
old machines had many problems. One problem was that periods sometimes looked
like commas.
Why? Because old typewriters sometimes put too much ink
on the paper when people typed. This made periods and commas look very
similar.
To help people see periods and commas clearly, a special typewriter rule
was made: one space after a comma, but two spaces after a period. Some old computer teachers don't know that computers are different, so they tell students to leave two spaces after each period. This rule is WRONG!
 |
| WRONG -- Two spaces after every period look very big and very ugly! |
Computer
periods and commas are very, very clear, so we only ever leave one space after each period or comma. If you leave
two spaces when typing on a computer, the spaces can become very big and look
very ugly.
Old typewriters sometimes put too much ink on
the paper when people typed periods and commas.
This made them look very similar.
To help people see periods and commas clearly, a special typewriter rule
was made: one space after a comma, but two spaces after a period.
Computer periods and commas are very, very clear,
so we only ever leave one space after each
period or comma.
 |
| RIGHT -- One space after every period looks just right |
