In 2006, after I’d been editing books for almost four years, I was interviewed by Rebecca Wigod, editor of the Books section of the Vancouver Sun newspaper. She subsequently wrote the following article featuring me and my colleague, book designer Fiona Raven. It was published Saturday, April 22, 2006. Here is the text of the article:
Since the advent of proportional spacing that word processing programs provide, it’s been deemed unnecessary to place two spaces after a period (or other punctuation at the end of a sentence). This custom harks back to the days of typewriters, when two spaces followed a full stop at the end of a sentence. In a line of nonproportional spacing, this made it easier to discern that the sentence was, in fact, at an end. Today, both word processing and layout software such as InDesign have a tiny, built-in space in the period character, resulting in slightly more than one space after the period and subtly allowing for the visual break the eye welcomes at a sentence’s end.
Arlene Prunkl
#36–3535 McCulloch Road
Kelowna, BC, Canada V1W 4R8
info@penultimateword.com
