Q. Here is something that I would ask you to consider for your style manual. Italic fonts in some word processors lean so far over that it seems as if the italicized word and the next unitalicized word run together to make one word. If a second space were placed after the italic word, it would be clearer. I realize that some spell checkers delete an added space at that point, but that could be changed. Do you think my suggested solution is appropriate?
A. This is indeed a pesky problem (but less so now than just a few years ago, as fonts and the monitors and printers used to read them have continued to improve). But since CMOS is geared toward the preparation of manuscripts for publication, which usually means that the manuscript will go to a typesetter in the form of an electronic file, we cannot advise adding the extra space, which might show up in the published document as (guess what?) an extra space. But thanks for writing. We’re always happy to consider the ideas of our readers.