One Space or Two Spaces

When you are typing on your computer, do you use one space or two spaces after a full stop? In my translation days, I always used one space but I noticed that some other translators used two. The consensus nowadays is that you should NEVER use two spaces, and the fact that so many people still do is a throwback to the days of manual typewriters which all used monospaced type, i.e. they accorded the same amount of width to each letter regardless of its size. In this respect no distinction was made between, for example, "i" and "w". This gave text a curiously flat look and double spacing was a way of drawing attention to the beginning and end of a sentence.

Ever since the invention of the electric typewriter, all fonts (like this one) are proportionally spaced and have effectively done away with the need for double spacing.
Actually, that's not quite true: Courier is an exception.

This paragraph is written using Courier. It is the same typeface we used back in the days of the Remington and Olivetti. You can see why double spacing might be a good idea. I think.


Here is the same paragraph with double spacing after the full stop.  This paragraph is written using Courier.  It is the same typeface we used back in the days of the Remington and Olivetti.  You can see why double spacing might be a good idea.  I think.