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Subject:Re: Using ragged right in technical publications From:"Bergen, Jane" <janeb -at- ANSWERSOFT -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 16 Sep 1997 08:56:33 -0500
On Tuesday, September 16, 1997 5:06 AM, Buck and Tilly Buchanan
[SMTP:writer -at- wf -dot- net] wrote:
> The *ragged right edge* rule was placed in our rulebook before
proportional
> character spacing-- when justification was done solely by word spacing
> [achieving right justification by changing the spacing between words].
> Justified text was really ugly in those days.
>
> Now, with full character spacing used for justification, the rule,
like
> many (two spaces following a period is an example) is archaic.
Here's a flash, Buck.... Microsoft Word STILL can space ONLY between
words, not between characters. I took the same paragraph and printed it
from both Word and PageMaker in various font sizes for a desktop
publishing class I taught. One example from each software program was
full-justified, one was left-justified. When I displayed it on a
transparency the students could clearly see the differences. We are not
out of the archaic yet.
Jane Bergen
Jane Bergen, Technical Writer,
AnswerSoft, Inc. Richardson, TX
janeb -at- answersoft -dot- com
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