Re: space

> Formally, in the English language there are situations apon which extra
> space is inserted between items.  Some examples include the two space
> after a period ending a sentence and the two spaces between the state
> and zip code in an address.  Do people suggest this extra space be
> maintained in HTML documents and how do people propose to do it?

The "language" has no such needs; those are just old typewriter
conventions that have no place in typeset text, and an HTML doc
is typeset text.  The spacing after a sentence or before a ZIP
code is entirely up to the browser/style sheet.

If, for some reason, you want to force the issue rather than
letting the renderer make those decisions, you can certainly
tell the browser your intentions with &nbsp;s or <span>s with
an appropriate style.  But as you point out, browsers vary in
their ability to take a hint.  In the long run, you might as
well leave the text alone to preserve the integrity of the data,
and trust that over time, browsers will come to display it most
appropriately for their environment.

Received on Sunday, 22 September 1996 15:22:39 UTC