Chirky

Definitely one space, but I do seem to recall that at one point I was a two-spacer. And I always use the shift key on the right, but rarely if ever use the one on the left. Weird, right?

I LOVED Mavis Beacon. And I basically only use the right shift key - forget that left one. My left pinky is for TABBING, not for shifting.

And no double spaces for me either. Apparently I didn't pick up ALL that much from Mavis Beacon.

I'm a one space girl. Of course, I also use "theatre", thanks to my last job. Which makes me a pompous American (according to Drew Barrymore in Never Been Kissed). Damn those jobs and their brainwashing style guides!

I type two spaces, out of habit. But web pages don't usually display two spaces unless it is specifically hard-coded in (and many programs don't respond that way.)

Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing... I totally remember that and I loved it.

And the Quest games, my brother and I spent countless hours playing those. I just got the Space Quest and King's Quest anthology ones last year too, trying to introduce my husband to them since he grew up in the dark ages where he never touched a computer on a regular basis until college. (shuddering in horror)

Oh my gosh, I use two spaces at the beginning of a sentence, and I totally feel your pain - if I were forced to use only one space, it would probably bug me so much I would quit. I WISH I were kidding.

I do, however, use both shift keys regularly. And I used to love all those Quest games and also Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing! I had completely forgotten about them until just now.

Two spaces, even when I know it won't show up in the end result.

I learned to type in the prehistoric 70's and worked on IBM Selectrics until about '88, and back then, it was always two spaces. I've been one-spacing for the last decade or so, but sometimes revert back to my old ways.

Its been one space for the last decade? Hmmm no one told me that. I still use 2. You are not alone. and I am strictly a left key shifter.

I learned on a manual typewriter (thankyouverymuch), although our class did have a few IBM Selectrics. The Texas Instruments word processors were in another room and never the twain did meet.

Thus, I learned to type two spaces between sentences and I've just broken myself of the habit in the last year or so.

Two spaces all the way. I loved Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing - yes I am a dork - but I swear I owe my lightning fast typing speed to that game! As for the shift key, I use both, but the double spaces really would kill me to switch to single. Good luck!

I was taught two spaces and my work still requires two, but in a lot of my personal communication (ok, e-mail, all right, the jillion e-mails I send in a day) I just use one.

I predominantly use the right Shift key, not the left. Dominant hand and all.

Used to be a two space girl but I have been lured by the dark side and now, rebel I am, use only one.... generally.
I also use too many periods (.) in my elipses. I just like the way 4 looks.... and then I also use a space. I do not think I am supposed to.
Thoughts?

I am a two-space girl.

Unless I am posting on twitter.

Those 140 characters get used up quickly.

With a full year of typing class in high school (don't look at the keys!!), i am a definite two-space girl. It has been coded into my brain and i don't know if i'd ever be able to change. I've been told that it's not necessary anymore, but I am stuck.
The alternate shifting keys to hand thing has been a big problem for me, too. I only use the left one now for all the keys and it's not comfortable, but it's easier.
I would love to find a current typing program, because i am a dork and would love something to practice with.

I use one space.

I only use the right Shift key.

I had King's Quest II but never had or heard of the other ones.

I would get so frustrated because the little Knight didn't understand anything I told him.

My mum taught me to type with two spaces, but school drummed that straight out of me. And I only ever use the shift key on the left of the keyboard. I usually only use the ctrl key on the left of the keyboard too. But I press the spacebar with my right thumb, even if my left thumb is actually nearer. A lot of the time, my left thumb goes to press it only to find that it's already been pressed by my right thumb. I never did very well with that Mavis Beacon Typing School thing. Too many rules to concentrate on.

Ahh! One space between sentences? Who thought of that? I only use one space when I'm texting, otherwise it's always two spaces!

I also only use the left shift key. Are you a lefty too? I hit the space bar with my left thumb only.

ONE ONE ONE!! Because I used to be a typesetter, back when typesetters existed, and 2 spaces leaves ugly gutters of white running through your text.

Two spaces. I mean, who knows when my computer will die and I will have to resort to using my typewriter?

Worse yet, I use both shift keys. Old habits die hard.

Willow, an ellipsis has three dots/periods called ellipsis points. Formerly, an ellipsis had no spaces but these days it has a space before and a space after it, unless it is at the end of a sentence. In that case, it has four ellipsis points (one of which serves as the period of the sentence) and is followed by the normal spacing between sentences.

A lot of us still put two spaces between sentences, but today's industry standard calls for only one space.

Sorry. I taught 8th-grade English. Pontificating is another of those old habits that die hard!

I ALWAYS use two spaces AND the right shift key.

Two spaces between sentences, and most of the time, the right shift key. But I do sometimes use the left shift key.

Whoops - I got confused by Loralee's comment - I've always had trouble with my rights and lefts. I meant to say that I usually use the LEFT shift key, but occasionally I have been known to use the RIGHT one.

Two spaces. Even though I work in advertising and it's part of my job to take out every second space I see.

But, lady, don't painstakingly delete every second space! Use a search a replace!

(Didn't mean that to rhyme, but it makes a good mantra, I think.)

I am a two spacer as well. I use both shift keys.

Two spaces. (Although I recently read somewhere that one is correct now... who is in charge of making these decisions, anyway?)

I use the right shift key only for the punctuation marks that are on that side of the board, meaning I do NOT use the opposite shift key as I supposedly should. The left shift key is used for all letters. I'm not really sure how this came to be or when I have ever paid so much attention to how I type.

I also am physically incapable of using my left pinky when I type. It just hangs in the air all British tea time like. This failure to properly strengthen and train my left pinky is definitely hindering my Guitar Hero playing ability.

The way I was taught in my typing and business classes in highschool was TWO SPACES all the way. I also use both Shift keys with my pinkies, using the Shift key on the opposite side of the board of the letter I am capitalizing. As in: Use the left Shift for a capital M and the right Shift for a capital C.

I have noticed that many Comment fields on blogs and in other areas on the Internet do not accept two spaces and it really bugs me.

At work, I always use two spaces. One of my bosses, though, puts in any number of spaces - sometimes 3, 4, or 5. This really bugs me as I have to go through his letters to proof them and take out all the extra spaces.

As for Old School games: I loved Mavis Beacon, as well as Oregon Trail and Carmen San Diego.

When I first started working back in 1994 or 1995, all the computers ran on DOS. Changing over to Windows was weird at first. But DOS was good to know for learning code and such.

(Sorry for the book.)

Since a computer IS NOT a typewriter, only one space is required.
You never see two spaces between sentences while reading a book, do you?

Well, forget that old typewriter two-space crap. It's one, and only one spaces, between them!

Two spaces...I wish I could make the right shift key do something useful.

Use Autocorrect ( Tools/Autocorrect )in Word to do this for you. Simply tell it that when you type two spaces replace it with one. The you keep doing what you are doing and no one changes.

~Jef

PS your old email is no longer working.

I was a middle school computer teacher. I taught to use two spaces after each period and one after each comma because that was the way I was taught. Then in the curriculum guide for NC it was pointed out that the rules changed to only requiring one space after any kind of punctuation mark.

I was trained to insert 2 because I'm a HUGE fan of MLA formatting. Then I went to college and took journalism classes and had to only do one space. THEN MLA changed their formatting requirements. So now I put in two or one or three if I'm feeling really fiesty. But then again, my writing doesn't have to really conform to MLA standards anymore!

TWWWWOOOOOOO!

I am the opposite of you. I like to do one space but am required to do two spaces at work. So now I pretty much do two spaces all the time, but I kind of hate it.

PS Left shift only.

I refuse to believe the right shift key exists. I am on the road to recovery from two spaces, but still screw up on occasion. I use "Replace" (under Edit, or Ctrl + H) to "Replace All" my double spaces. It also tells me how often I've needed help--which in my last document was 17 times, lol. In my defense it was a multi-page document.

...in Word. I meant to say that. Sorry!

Two spaces, now and forever. And I use both shift keys equally.

Definitely two spaces.

And also: damn, I don't think I realized there even WAS a shift key on the right.

One space! One space!

I'm a one space girl. In fact when I proofread other people's work I take out the extra space if they used two because it drive me mad. ;)

I loved King's Quest. That was the bomb back in the day. Now I think back to those graphics and it makes me giggle. We were so excited about those crappy graphics back then. We had no stinkin' high definition picture like the Xbox 360. We had boxes that moved left and right and up and down. And we were thrilled with it.

As a graphic designer, my vote is for only using one space between sentences.

I'm constantly removing double spaces from the text documents I receive from others when I design.

I always did two spaces because that's how I learned it, but those are the rules for typing, not word processing. Once I found that out I switched to one - it probably took me less than a month to retrain myself.

I'm a two spaces kind of gal. It drives me crazy to only do one. I hate it when they change the rules. Kind of like when they decided it was OK to put a comma before and in a list (ex. pretty, tall, and perky). I still can't do that either. And who is the "they" that makes up these rules?

I use both shift keys equally but I space with my right thumb. There's a control key on the right? Pretty sure I've never used that in my life.

Two spaces and the right shift key! :P

Totally a two space girl. I find myself adding the missing space in my blogger posts even though I know it's going to take them right back out again as soon as I save or publish. I use both shift keys - leftover from the typing class I took Senior year of HS.

And I'm laughing over here Heather. I'm exactly the opposite of you with the comma before the and in a list. It's always been that way for me and it looks so very odd without it (ex: pretty, tall and perky - GAH!)

Oh, oh oh ... so totally one space. Two spaces is like fingernails on a chalkboard for me!

You're supposed to use the space bar ONLY with your right thumb, so thats what I do. And I was taught to use both shift keys. It's what I've always done, so it isn't weird to me.

I'm with Heather on the right Ctrl key, too. I think it's just there for balance.

As for the serial comma before "and," it depends on which style you're using. AP style does NOT allow it unless there is an "and" or "or" in another part of the list (example: "She made macaroni and cheese, sausage, and steamed veggies for dinner."). The Chicago Manual of Style uses serial commas.

That's today's editing lesson. Not that you needed it, though.

Two spaces for sure. I can't make myself do it any other way. Grr

I recently took a class and was required to only use one. So I used "find and replace" to find a period followed by 2 spaces and replaced it with a period followed by 1 space.

I feel your pain.

One space. All of the Tech Writing I was doing taught me that. ;)

Oh my goodness. I had no idea that it was a "one space only" world now. It has always, always been two spaces. I can't even type a text message without adding two spaces. It looks so WRONG if there's only one space at the end of a sentence.

I'm not sure I'm down with this.

Seven. Seven spaces.

I'm a space addict. But really, I use one space. Except when I use two, which is: at work and in presentation papers and such. Otherwise I use one. Like I have been doing this entire comment. Talking about spaces are fun. The space bar doesn't get enough keyboard love.

Also, I had too much wine at dinner tonight.

I learned to type in the 60's! And it was on a manual typewriter. Always 2 spaces after a sentence, and I learned the real touch-typing which means I shift on the opposite side of the letter I am typing. And no, I'll never change. I had no idea you were only supposed to do one space between sentences now.

oh my lord, two spaces of course. Who are these barbarians who only use one? I can't believe it! ;)

I learned to type on a Commodore 64 in middle school, and it was probably my freshman year in college before I stopped double-spacing between my sentences.

I still refuse to give up the Oxford comma, though. You know, the one that's not "necessary" when you type cats, dogs, and kids.

How can you do touch typing without using both shift keys?
And why is it so very wrong to have two spaces?
God intended sentences to have two spaces, it's in the bible somewhere, under computers.

TWO TWO TWO!
isn't that the way it is meant to be forever and ever amen? i don't know if i could just do one. it's so automatic, from my childhood days playing the TypeRight toy thingy i got once. yes, i "played" typing.

I've always used two spaces. It simply looks better to my Technical Artist eye. I see more problems with "rivers of white" with full justification. At least two spaces make sentences discrete organisms. (Stupid websites taking the spaces out...) I like the serial comma as well, but I'm fine without it.

What really bugs me is quotations at the end of a sentence. If I'm using a word in quotes at the end of a sentence, the period isn't always a part of the quote; it may be a part of the sentence and specifically not part of the quote, dangit! Imposing blanket rules on contextual situations is a bad idea, even if it's supposed to be "right". By whose definition, anyways? Gits.

Short story long, I write like I darn well please. If the MLS can change the way they do things, and the AP style doesn't play nice with Chicago, what do I care? It's all just so much idiotic Titanic deck chair shuffling anyways. If it's clear and legible, it's fine.

1. Two spaces in actual type-written documents. One space on the computer. Don't ask me why. I know it's weird.

2. Nobody uses the right shift key. Hang on, I just did and it nauseated me.

Read the book The Mac is Not a Typewriter. It will change your life (in terms of one space v two spacing).

I used to be a two-space person because I grew up learning to type on a traditional typewriter. However, with computers and relational spacing, the single space actually helps legibility. Two spaces is like putting the Grand Canyon between your sentences.

Once you get used to the look of one space, seeing someone who sends you work with two spaces between sentences will drive you nuts.
(or maybe it's just me. I do have a touch of the "obsessive compulsive disorder")

One space has always been the proper way to set type. It wasn't until the advent of do-it-yourself typesetting (the typewriter) that people began using two spaces. Thus, pre-typewriters, a typesetter would manually kern all type. Post-typewriters, the computer can kern the type for you. There's no need for two spaces... and as far as I can tell, it's mostly people who grew up with typewriters or in the wake of typewriters who use this awful convention.

two spaces, however, I was also told by Edgy Mama that only one space is required now, but in the past it was always two spaces. And yes, I always use the shift key on the left and never on the right. I press the spacebar with my right thumb. I type fast, it works for me and so I don't care who is trying to tell me how to type, this is how I am going to do it - FOREVER!