If it ain't broke...

I was pulling my hair out earlier as I tried to type an unformatted letter in the harrowing abortion known as Word 2007. It seemed that no matter what I did, the confounded program insisted upon double-spacing the text. In sheer desperation, I resorted to the F1 key. Here's what I got:

Why did the line spacing change in Word?

Symptoms
You might experience any of the following line spacing issues:

Increased spacing between paragraphs.
More space than expected between lines in a paragraph.
Unexpected spacing on a page.

Cause
Microsoft Office Word 2007 introduces a newly designed default template for creating documents.

The new template uses fonts that were designed with readability in mind. According to a blog that was active during Word 2007 development, "the new fonts used in Word are based on the ClearType technology that provides a crisper, more easily read display of the fonts on most modern monitors." Calibri is the new default font for body text, and "to complement the look of Calibri, Cambria was selected for use in headings."

The default template for creating new documents in Word 2007 also uses "looser" line spacing and introduces extra space between paragraphs. The looser line spacing is actually only 15 percent greater than single spacing (it is not double spacing, or even 1.5 line spacing). Its purpose is to introduce more white space in blocks of text, which makes the text easier to read.

Because many Word users press ENTER twice after every paragraph, the Word 2007 default settings build in that extra space. Customers need to press ENTER only one time to add space between paragraphs.

Dear Microsoft,

STOP FUCKING WITH EVERYTHING.


Thank you,

The Entire Planet