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I started using non-breaking spaces (represented in the following examples by an underscore) between a number and a unit of measure (10_ft), and within a name (Dr._John_Smith). I like the "look" of using non-breaking spaces to prevent titles from wrapping, but I don't know if it's technically correct or not. Is there a hard rule for this, or it a matter of style? Are their other circumstances when non-breaking spaces are usual?

Just in case it's news to anyone: you can enter a non-breaking space with Ctrl-Shift-Space in Word and Outlook, and possibly other applications.

Targeloid
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    I really don't know whether to upvote or downvote this question. It certainly explores the margin between typesetting and language usage! – FumbleFingers Jun 03 '11 at 23:50
  • @FumbleFingers: You have a point... – Alenanno Jun 04 '11 at 00:00
  • @Alenanno: But I see your answer definitely moves that margin further into the world of typesetting! Me, I'm more with @Alex. In terms of actual usage, OP is already getting carried away with that hard space within John_Smith. Personally my rule of thumb is to ignore concerns about what the bit on the end of the first line would look like, and just worry about whether the bit at the start of the next line would be able to stand on its own. – FumbleFingers Jun 04 '11 at 00:11
  • I know there's some info about how to "insert" a non-breaking space in my answer, but they give also examples about real usage (also mentioning unit of measures)... Is it that OT? :D – Alenanno Jun 04 '11 at 00:14
  • Neutral vote - this is a typesetting question. That said, I think that is good typesetting practice, especially in relation to units. – Marcin Jun 04 '11 at 10:38
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    This is certainly a language question! Especially because it differs from language to language (and maybe even in English, it differs from tradition to tradition!) – yo' Feb 18 '13 at 20:47
  • There is also a narrow no-break space (HTML:  ) is a non-breaking space with a width similar to that of the thin space. See Wikipedia "Thin space". –  Oct 22 '13 at 17:20
  • You can get away with putting non-breaking spaces in Dr._John_Smith, but for Pres._John_Fitzgerald_Kennedy, I would strongly advise against it. Keeping a string of letters that long unbroken is likely to stretch lines far too much for the finished product to look good. – Peter Shor Apr 27 '17 at 12:00
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    I’m voting to close this question because it is about typography rather than language and usage. – David Jan 06 '22 at 19:21
  • @David I suppose it would fit better on [writing.se] SE, but of course far too old to be migrated. – Rand al'Thor Jan 11 '22 at 06:10
  • The question deals primarily with an issue of typesetting that is normally handled by the typesetter in whatever way the software allows. Non-breaking spaces are only one of the ways of doing this and their use may impede the work of the typesetter, who also has to consider general matters such as word spacing , kerning, font size and so forth. We would not consider such matters here, so I feel we should not dwell on the special case of the non-breaking space. – Anton Jan 16 '22 at 14:50

2 Answers2

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The usage of a non-breaking space is explained in a Wikipedia article under Non-breaking spaces and Controlling line breaks and below in items 1 and 5:

  1. It is advisable to use a non-breaking space (also known as a hard space) to prevent the end-of-line displacement of elements that would be awkward at the beginning of a new line:
  • in expressions in which figures and abbreviations (or symbols) are separated by a space (e.g. 17 kg, AD 565, 2:50 pm);
  • between the date number and month name (e.g. 3 June or June 3);
  • in other places where breaking across lines might be disruptive to the reader, especially in infoboxes, such as £11 billion, June 2011, 5° 24′ 21.12″ N, Boeing 747, after the number in a numbered address (e.g. 123 Fake Street) and before Roman numerals at the end of phrases (e.g. World War II and Pope Benedict XVI).
  1. A hard space can be produced with the HTML code   instead of the space bar; 19 kg yields a non-breaking 19 kg.
  2. A literal hard space, such as one of the Unicode non-breaking space characters, should not be used since some web browsers will not load them properly when editing.
  3. Unlike normal spaces, multiple hard spaces are not compressed by browsers into a single space.
  4. A non-breaking space should be used before a spaced en dash.
Laurel
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Alenanno
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  • Yes, as the hard-breaking space has no visual representation I used an underscore instead. Wikipedia's page is more of a style guide than an official rulebook, but it's as good as any! –  Jun 07 '11 at 12:45
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One place where it's important is between a person's initials (e.g., J. Q. Adams), so that the J. and Q. don't end up separated. (A nonbreaking space isn't needed between the initials and the last name, though).

Alex
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    I would have said standard practice would be not to have a space between J. and Q. in your example. But having just done a bit of googling for T.S. Elliot I find that maybe half of all references do it your way. It still seems wrong to me, but obviously it's a matter of style and personal choice. – FumbleFingers Jun 04 '11 at 00:19