This is just mean
By on October 30, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (9)
Margot has been really into blogging lately.
I can be very particular sometimes. By “particular” I mean I can be an asshole. There are certain things that bother me to no end. Maybe talking about them will help?
Two Spaces
I really can’t handle when people put two spaces after a period. It frustrates the crap out of me. YOU AREN’T USING A TYPEWRITER. Welcome to the 21st century. We use computers. We don’t use monospaced type anymore. There is no need for the extra space. And it’s not a specific kind of person who does this. It’s everyone. I don’t really understand. When I have to remove all those extra spaces, oh man! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE remember! Never EVER put two spaces after a period. It’s WRONG.
Excel
I hate excel. I hate having to take text from excel and bring it into quark. Maybe it’s just not my thing. I’ve never really needed to use it for anything. I’m not really even sure what it’s purpose is. The only thing I’ve seen them used for is lists. Can’t you use word instead? There is so much less work in formatting when using word vs. excel.
“Free”
The other thing that has been getting to me lately is about cost. People forget that everything costs something. Nothing is free. The food in the fridge was bought by someone who carried it in their backpack on their bike in the sun. So when you eat it that really really sucks. Also, websites aren’t free. Not only are their hosting/software fees, there is the time it takes to make stuff. I have felt frustrated at times about EM and PF in regards to this. I’m going to stop here before it goes too far. Also, Mikey really has said it best:
Well, there is still a fee, it’s just invisible to you. A lot of resources go into creating this space (examples: hosting fees, design work, etc on UHX) and maintaining it.But we allow certain forms of advertising, such as when our friends make things, but we don’t allow other less targeted forms (like spam).
There is always a cost to getting the word out: paying for posters, sending CDs out for review, or just the time it takes… A lot of “fee-for-speech” advertising models (newspapers, magazines, etc) is more ethical because there is a clear line between editorial and advertising. On UHX that line is blurred because the editorial is making the product and the advertisements and it’s all blurred together.
How do you promote shows at the DOS w/o advertising them?
Is advertising okay if it comes from a trusted source?
While some of the ways in which advertising happens can be sleazy, is the entire idea of paying for promotion evil? And if so, where does that leave “news” and other ad-based media?
How can we know what is happening in far away places unless someone foots the bill? Removing advertising would be worse for the world than removing religion.(via EMX)
Tags: Cost, Excel, Kitten, QuarkXPress, Text Formatting
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Comments (9)
we had a big debate about the 2 spaces thing a while ago. i do 2 spaces. i can’t stop. that’s the way i was taught. after some deeper research we came to the conclusion that 2 spaces isn’t wrong. 1 space might just be more modern and also slightly more right.
(i used just one space in this comment. for you)
Posted by Steve Schroeder | October 31, 2007 @ 11:00 AM
From a design perspective, 2 spaces is wrong. If I don’t remove the extra space my boss would be unhappy or one of the editors would mark it up.
Posted by Matthew | October 31, 2007 @ 12:02 PM
and luckily the whole world is not just design. sounds like you are dealing with people who are unfamiliar with the policy that you are dealing with.
institutional policy vs. grammatical rule
Posted by Steve Schroeder | October 31, 2007 @ 12:06 PM
It’s typography. Since forever it has been one space after punctuation. Thems the rules. The two spaces method was for monospaced typefaces used on typewriters. It’s colloquial. It’s unnecessary.
Posted by Matthew | October 31, 2007 @ 12:39 PM
so are you saying i’m wrong if i do it anywhere anytime?
Posted by Steve Schroeder | October 31, 2007 @ 12:51 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_stop
it really doesn’t seem so black and white to me.
Posted by Steve Schroeder | October 31, 2007 @ 1:01 PM
Dang :[
You are free to do as you will. As far as typography it’s wrong, but that doesn’t really mean anything.
People put 2 spaces and it caught on, so in a colloquial sense it’s right.
It frustrates me when I have to remove the extra space for work. It frustrates me that I got marked down on a paper for not have two spaces.
People feel strongly about both.
Posted by Matthew | October 31, 2007 @ 1:02 PM
Chicago Manual of Style is nicer in saying it then I’ve been.
When I was in 7th grade I put two spaces after every period because my teacher wanted our papers double spaced.
Posted by Matthew | October 31, 2007 @ 1:31 PM
I agree about the double space! Steve and I argue about this sometimes, but I have to admit it’s just a habit some people learned and is probably so ingrained that a single space looks terrible to them…
Posted by Mikey | October 31, 2007 @ 10:57 AM