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Re: Texinfo manual: Sentence spacing


From: Vincent Lefevre
Subject: Re: Texinfo manual: Sentence spacing
Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2017 10:30:16 +0200
User-agent: Mutt/1.8.3-7101-vl-r99863 (2017-07-08)

Sorry for the late reply...

On 2017-06-17 11:59:59 +0100, Gavin Smith wrote:
> On 16 June 2017 at 14:46, Vincent Lefevre <address@hidden> wrote:
> > In the Texinfo manual, section on @frenchspacing:
> >
> >   
> > https://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/manual/texinfo/html_node/_0040frenchspacing.html
> >
> >   "In American typography, it is traditional and correct to put
> >   extra space at the end of a sentence. This is the default in
> >   Texinfo (implemented in Info and printed output; for HTML, we
> >   don’t try to override the browser). In French typography (and
> >   others), this extra space is wrong; all spaces are uniform."
> >
> > This is misleading. One has the impression than in American
> > typography, extra space is preferred. However, this is no longer
> > the case nowadays:
> >
> >   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_spacing
> >
> >   "From around 1950, single sentence spacing became standard in
> >   books, magazines and newspapers, and the majority of style guides
> >   that use a Latin-derived alphabet as a language base now prescribe
> >   or recommend the use of a single space after the concluding
> >   punctuation of a sentence."
> 
> Well, OK. Do you have a suggestion for how the wording could be changed?
> 
> This would be in the manual to explain why the printed output (with
> TeX) uses English spacing. The historical reason why it uses English
> spacing is that that is the default of TeX (not that that is of
> interest to a user).
> 
> The problem with the current wording could be the meaning of the word
> "traditional", which could be interpreted in varying ways. Perhaps it
> could say "Texinfo uses an style of sentence spacing frequent in older
> American typography."

I would say something like:

  In a way similar to TeX, Texinfo's default is to put an extra space
  at the end of a sentence (implemented in Info and printed output;
  for HTML, we don't try to override the browser). This style of
  sentence spacing is frequent in older American typography. In French
  typography (and others, including recommendations from recent
  American style guides), this extra space is wrong; all spaces are
  uniform.

-- 
Vincent Lefèvre <address@hidden> - Web: <https://www.vinc17.net/>
100% accessible validated (X)HTML - Blog: <https://www.vinc17.net/blog/>
Work: CR INRIA - computer arithmetic / AriC project (LIP, ENS-Lyon)



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