Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

 AH>  If you &/or your quoter prefer not to use the double space, 
 AH>  I accept that when the results are consistent...

 AK>  It is the specifics of my quoter. 


          But you generally follow the same pattern in your own writing.  :-))



 AK>  My quoter can format the text to a formatted form with an 
 AK>  aligned right margin, and in this case additional spaces 
 AK>  are OK. Vice versa it removes additional spaces and line 
 AK>  returns when I want long line paragraphs.


          I'd noticed both you & Anton using such options.  I am told QEdit... which my message editor invokes... was originally designed for programmers.  

          In the light of what Wiki has to say about the history of spacing in English, however, I now realize the tendency to employ single spacing within & between sentences originated with the advent of mass-market publications.  :-)



 AK>  I remember you like to write your messages in the formatted 
 AK>  form with the aligned right margin. 


          I align the right margin for various reasons, one of which is that I don't want the computer to muck around with my spacing.  I've learned over the years that when I fill every line my software won't try to improve on it.  But of course I have no control over what other people's software will do....  :-Q



 AK>  It means the text alignment is turned on in your editor. 


          No, it means I'm an old schoolteacher for whom readability is of far more importance than what's au courant or what others might do to save a buck. When I look at material intended for beginning readers I notice the spacing is consistent but the right margin is variable.  In such cases the paragraphs are usually very short.  At some point I gather more fluent readers may prefer the right margins to be consistent, even at the expense of consistency in spacing.

          In this echo we have readers who are operating at various levels WRT the English language, so what I'm doing is a bit of a balancing act... [grin].




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+