Space Between Words/Images

On web pages, there are various space widths that can be specified between words and characters or images.

The normal or default space is the spacing you see between the words in this paragraph. The spacing is generally referred to as medium spacing. There are also hair spacing, thin spacing, and thick spacing.

Here is a list of various spacing that is available. Each is specified by a named character.

Amount of space	Example (between letters)	Named character for publishing the space
Hair space	A B C D E F	&hairsp;
Thin space	A B C D E F
Medium space	A B C D E F ⁽¹⁾(may vary)
Medium space	A B C D E F
Thick space	A  B  C  D  E  F

⁽¹⁾When a medium space is specified with   and the text is justified, the medium space adjusts its width to match the adjusted default spacing between words for that line. Here is an example.

Letters A B C D E F have adjusted   spacing when stretched for justification.

Publish as space with a named character when you want a specific amount of space or when two words must stay together on one line.

I generally use &thinsp between radio buttons and their label text. Also checkboxes and text. Radio buttons and checkboxes generally have margins, so I remove those first.

Here is an example of that, followed by the source code:

For a label

<style type="text/css">
input[type="checkbox"], input[type="radio"] { margin:0; }
</style>

<input type="checkbox">&thinsp;For a label

As another example of use, &hairsp; can be used between images to insert a twitch of space between them — so they don't bang up against each other yet don't have the normal amount of space.

Here is an example and the source code:

<div>
<img src="https://willbontrager.com/coverimages/Truffles-22-recipes/20201122-cover-200w.jpg" style="max-width:125px;" 
alt="book #1 cover">&hairsp;<img src="https://willbontrager.com/coverimages/First-candy-book/BookCoverARccc(200w).jpg" 
style="max-width:125px;" alt="book #2 cover">
</div>

(The books repesented by the example images can be found at WillBontrager.com.)

When additional space is needed, the named characters can be doubled or tripled or more. As an example, A      B      C      D      E      F uses     for each space between the letters.

A&ThickSpace;&ThickSpace;&ThickSpace;B&ThickSpace;&ThickSpace;&ThickSpace;C&ThickSpace;&ThickSpace;&ThickSpace;D&ThickSpace;&ThickSpace;&ThickSpace;E&ThickSpace;&ThickSpace;&ThickSpace;F

When spacing is important, one of the named characters for publishing space may be exactly right for the situation.

(This content first appeared in Possibilities newsletter.)

Will Bontrager

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