Ohne Leerzeichen wirkt der Satz komisch, und meine Handschrift hilft dann auch nicht mehr.

German main clauses follow the verb-second rule. That means the finite verb must come in the second position.

Here, Ohne Leerzeichen is placed first for emphasis, so the verb wirkt has to come next:

• Ohne Leerzeichen = first position
• wirkt = second position
• der Satz = subject after the verb

So this is completely normal German word order.

You could also say:

• Der Satz wirkt ohne Leerzeichen komisch.

That is also correct. The version with Ohne Leerzeichen first gives a little more focus to the lack of spaces.

Because German main clauses require the conjugated verb to be in second position.

In English, the subject usually comes before the verb no matter what:

• Without spaces, the sentence looks strange.

In German, if something other than the subject comes first, the subject often moves after the verb:

• Ohne Leerzeichen wirkt der Satz komisch.

So der Satz is still the subject, even though it comes after the verb.

Ohne always takes the accusative case.

So if you add an article, you can see the accusative more clearly:

• ohne das Leerzeichen = without the space
• ohne die Leerzeichen = without the spaces

In your sentence, there is no article:

• ohne Leerzeichen

That means Leerzeichen stays in its basic plural form. This is very common in German when speaking generally.

Here it is most naturally understood as plural: spaces.

So ohne Leerzeichen means without spaces in general, not without one space.

German often uses a bare plural noun like this when talking about something in a general sense.

Wirken means to seem, to appear, or to come across.

So:

• Der Satz ist komisch = the sentence is strange
• Der Satz wirkt komisch = the sentence seems/looks strange

In this sentence, wirkt is a bit softer and more natural, because the idea is about how the sentence comes across to the reader.

Because komisch is used predicatively here, after the verb wirkt.

In German, adjectives used this way do not take endings:

• Der Satz ist komisch.
• Der Satz wirkt komisch.

Adjective endings only appear when the adjective comes before a noun:

• ein komischer Satz

So:

• der Satz wirkt komisch = correct
• der komische Satz = also correct, but different structure

Dann here means something like then, in that case, or at that point.

It connects the second clause to the first idea:

• If there are no spaces, the sentence looks strange,
• and then / in that situation my handwriting does not help anymore either.

So dann refers to the situation created by the first clause.

Auch means also or too.

It adds the idea that the handwriting is another problem:

• The sentence already looks strange without spaces,
• and my handwriting also does not help.

So auch links the second problem to the first one.

In natural English, you might translate the whole part as:

• and then my handwriting doesn’t help either

That either often corresponds nicely to auch in a negative sentence.

Nicht mehr means no longer or not anymore.

So:

• hilft nicht = does not help
• hilft nicht mehr = does not help anymore / no longer helps

In this sentence, it suggests that whatever usefulness the handwriting may have had is gone in that situation.

Because und is joining two main clauses, each with its own finite verb:

1. Ohne Leerzeichen wirkt der Satz komisch
2. meine Handschrift hilft dann auch nicht mehr

German often uses a comma here, especially when the clauses are longer or clearly separate ideas.

So the comma helps readability, even though with und it is sometimes optional in simpler sentences.

Handschrift means handwriting.

It refers to the way someone writes by hand, not the written text itself.

So:

• meine Handschrift = my handwriting

In this sentence, the speaker is saying that if there are no spaces, their handwriting is not clear enough to make things easier.

Yes, helfen often takes a dative object:

• Meine Handschrift hilft mir.
• Die Erklärung hilft dem Leser.

But German can leave the object unstated when it is understood from context.

Here, meine Handschrift hilft dann auch nicht mehr means something like:

• my handwriting doesn’t help anymore either
• my handwriting is no help then either

The idea of helping with reading/understanding the sentence is understood, so no explicit object is necessary.

Yes, a fairly literal version would be:

• Without spaces, the sentence seems strange, and then my handwriting doesn’t help anymore either.

A more natural English version might be:

• Without spaces, the sentence looks odd, and then my handwriting doesn’t help either.

Both reflect the grammar of the German sentence pretty well.