Re: Good Formatting Practice
I would welcome opinions on the following:
Hi,
First, whatever the measurements are, the final effect should ease reading the material. The eye should be able to scan the page without distraction in an orderly manner. The spacing (paragraph, line, and word) are more important for readability than font choice, IMNSHO. (Here we go again.) Use spacing to help organise the material presented.
Then, I have a VERY MINOR point of information about your terminology. I am only mentioning it to the list because it is typical of a few and since you use most of the terms in one place, I can draw some distinctions (shoot my mouth off).
Alignment for text is referred to by the following trade jargon:
Text aligned along the left side of the text block is referred to using the term 'flush-left'.
Text aligned along the right side of the text block is referred to using the term 'flush-right'.
Often, the term used is 'ragged right' to imply that the left side of the text block is aligned.
Similarly, 'ragged left' implies that the other side of the text block is aligned flush to the right margin. Elderly terms for 'flush left' and 'flush right' were 'quad left' and 'quad right' respectively but probably won't be recognised by anyone in the trade under 50 years of age or a trivia fanatic.
Text that is placed evenly (measured optically) between the margins is said to be 'centered'.
In all of the above cases, the word-spacing is the same between all words in the text block (paragraph),
To justify text is to force the right and left margins into alignment by varying the word spacing. Text that has been composed (set) in this manner is justified text. Some purists insist that all punctuation is justified text must be 'hung' outside the text block while most don't bother with this fine point and use block form for all alignments.
The use of 'right,' 'left,' or 'centered' with 'justify' dilutes the special meaning of the term. And we all are concerned with precise word use, are we not?
Pedantically,
s
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Follow-Ups:
- Re(2): Good Formatting Practice, Jan Henning
References:
Good Formatting Practice: From: Frank Taylor
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