Drop That Extra Space After a Period

Back in the dark ages, when I first learned to type, I was taught to add two spaces following every period. Today, decades later, it’s a reflex almost like breathing.

In the digital age, the reason for that second space no longer exists. In fact, and because that extra space now “counts” as a character, it can lead to some unwanted spacing issues, one that I see often on websites and in newsletters.

The problem is that sometimes, the extra space “character” occurs at the beginning of a line, making it look like a mistake (think sloppy). Because the screen shrinks and grows depending on the size of the screen of a given device, it’s impossible to predict when and where this will happen.

To correct this before hitting the send or publish key, use the search function that’s a part of your browser:

On the PC hit CTRL F; on the Mac, it’s Command F. This will open a window for you to search the text. Sometimes the search box is at the top of the browser, sometimes at the bottom, so you might need to look around to find it.

Here’s what it looks like in Firefox on a PC:

Then type . (period) 2 spaces in the search box and Highlight All. Here’s what you’ll see in this sample block of text:

You can then move through the document and delete the extra spaces.

And by the way, don’t forget to check for those unnecessary additional spaces after “, ?, and !, too, using the same method!

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