Spaces around slashes

[sklar-careym]

Correct or Incorrect: In most instances, there are no leading spaces after a word & before a slash, and after a slash & before a word Example: Sharp/Sharp not Sharp / Sharp. In what instances would I use a leading and following space? Curved / Curved, etc?

[mwmalinowski]

Generally?

"A/B" vs. "A / B"?

I suppose probably space-slash-space. This probably needs further discussion to settle once and for all. Here are some examples of the styles I've been applying:

Tip End Styles for Scissors:

• Examples: Sharp/Sharp, Sharp/Blunt, and Blunt/Blunt
• Logic: non-spaced because these are three specific descriptors that are very commonly used among suppliers/competitors and they usually don't have a space.

Where multiple words are before and/or after the slash:

• Examples: Tungsten Carbide / Stainless Steel
• Logic: Tungsten Carbide/Stainless Steel may make read as "Tungsten", "Carbide/Stainless", and "Steel" rather than "Tungsten Carbide", "/", "Stainless Steel"

[mwmalinowski]

A proofer found "/" vs " / " confusing. I'm torn here because I generally prefer " / " for the reasons stated above, but it's specifically not very common to have spaces in Sharp/Sharp. Any suggestions?

[sklar-sherryp]

Found this and suggest we use it as our rule. It's basically in agreement with what Mike states above but also provides an example for scenarios where we may have a combination of single words and phrases (multiple words) being separated by a forward slash.

If you are using a forward slash to separate two phrases, put a space before and after the forward slash (eg: pay by credit card / pay by money order). This rule also applies if you have a phrase on one side of the forward slash and a single word on the other side (eg: credit card / cash).

If you are using a forward slash to separate two short words, don't put a space on either side of of the forward slash (eg: credit/cash).[1]

[mwmalinowski]

Consider Color: If we follow that rule strictly then we end up with "Gray/Black" for one product and "Gray / Navy Blue" for another. Because there exists the strong possibility that a color may have more than one word I have been defaulting to "Gray / Black"

[sklar-sherryp]

Perhaps we should use a space before and after the slash for all fields? I think it will be least confusing to have a universal rule regardless of the field. This would mean for Family, Color, Tip End Style etc. we would always put a space before and after the slash. Is that something we can do?

[mwmalinowski]

I'm fine with that suggestion except for Sharp/Sharp, Sharp/Blunt, and Blunt/Blunt.

Scissor tips' values are very, very commonly written that way. It's one of the few things that is fairly standard across the industry.

[sklar-sherryp]

Should we put this under "General Rules and Guidelines" as well as the specific sections?
As in, "the general rule when using a slash is to put a space before and after, but NOT when referring to the Tip End Style" or any Tip End fields. Then we can reiterate in each section of the guide if you do or do not use spaces, just as reinforcement for the rule.

[mwmalinowski]

@sklar-sherryp said: Should we put this under "General Rules and Guidelines" as well as the specific sections?

As in, "the general rule when using a slash is to put a space before and after, but NOT when referring to the Tip End Style" or any Tip End fields. Then we can reiterate in each section of the guide if you do or do not use spaces, just as reinforcement for the rule.

That sounds good to me, yes.

[sklar-sherryp]

Added to General Guidelines under a "Spaces And Slashes" section and provided examples.