[scribus] Long space bars in Scribus

[Gregory Pittman]

On 04/20/2012 11:04 AM, John Jason Jordan wrote:
>
> I should have added that I generally follow Bringhurst in matters of
> typography, and he recommends the n-dash with spaces rather than the
> em-dash or em-dash with spaces. I note that most publishers in the US
> use the em-dash without spaces, but I like Bringhurst's view. I added
> an autocorrect entry to change a space + hyphen to an en-dash.
>

I did some research into this as we were preparing the manual, and like 
many aspects of typography, there has been a shift in preferences over 
the years.

There used to be a strong preference for em-dashes, and the British 
typically use them without spaces. In recent years there has been 
increasing use of en-dashes, usually with spaces. I think you need the 
spaces with en-dashes so they're not confused with hyphens.

With any of the options, whether en-dash, em-dash, comma, parentheses, 
you need to be careful not to overuse them. A block of text studded with 
these separators is not pleasing to look at (especially when it's 
screwing up your linebreaks) and at least mildly annoying to read.

Greg