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Subject:Re: Ragged Right From:Beverly Parks <bparks -at- HUACHUCA-EMH2 -dot- ARMY -dot- MIL> Date:Wed, 7 Feb 1996 13:25:17 MST
Virginia Krenn asked for comments on the following exchange:
> > ... Additionally, the use of right
> > justification causes extra spaces to be inserted between words. For
> > the same reason as stated above, ragged right is preferred.
> That is true of mono-spaced type. Modern word processers on GUI
> systems such as the Macintosh and MS Windows avoid that problem by
> spacing between letters. Pick up virtually any novel, short-story
> collection, or magazine and you'll find that the pages are right and
> left justified.
==========
I agree that modern software and fonts have pretty much
eliminated that concern. However, I think there are a
combination of factors involved: the software, the font, and
column width. Older or inexpensive software may not handle
letter spacing very elegantly when right justification is used.
OTOH, even the most sophisticated software may have a problem
with very narrow columns. That's why in some newspapers you see
words s t r e t c h e d out like t h i s sometimes. It looks
yucky and is hard to read. Using a ragged right margin would
prevent this from happening.
=*= Beverly Parks -- bparks -at- huachuca-emh2 -dot- army -dot- mil =*=
=*= "I am not speaking for my employer." =*=
