About Those Ellipses …

The three dots defined, and style thoughts considered.

We see them all over, and we intutively know what they mean, even if we aren’t typographically inclined. And, in this world of drop-down GUI menus, with items that lead to items and to dialog boxes, we all intrinsically recognize what Print… means: what we get when we click on that menu item will be more than what we see.

The typography referred to here is, of course, known as the ellipsis (plural form: ellipses. It’s something we use in typography when we want to omit something to refine the point, or when we want to indicate a pause in conversation.

A Typographic Workbook, 2nd edition (2005), by Clair and Busic-Snyder, define ellipsis thus:

A way to look at ellipses is a path that leads to some other place, a diversion in the flow, or a signpost pointing to a destination.

Points for Style

Naturally, the question is begged on how to use the ellipses. Bringhurst, naturally, has some signposts for us, which can be found in section 5.2.7 in The Elements of Typographical Style, version 2.5.

Though many digital fonts these days include an ellipsis character (three baseline dots), typographers – not known as people who sit well with defaults – prefer to construct thier own. Some prefer three dots set flush, with a normal space before and after. Others prefer a “thin” space between the dots. On the other hand, the Chicago Manual of Style calls for a “thick” space (M/3) between the dots, a spacing which Bringhurst feels is much too wide, calling them a “Victorian eccentricity”.

The overall advice he has for us is to consider the look of the font and the size and construct the ellipsis accordingly. Allow space between the dots in light, airy fonts such as Baskerville; a heavy Trajanus might call for closely or flush-spaced dots. This is the designer taking an active role in design – instead of “letting the computer design for you”, which is what you do when you accept defaults.

In most every case, the general rule to follow is a normal space before and after ellipses, but there are exceptions to this rule. In English particularly, when the ellipsis appears at the end of the sentence, the period is added on as a fourth dot and the space in front of the ellipsis goes away. When the ellipsis is terminats in a question-mark, comma, or exclamation mark, the same applies. Otherwise, include the space.