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Subject:RE: research on justified vs. ragged right From:Suzette Seveny <sseveny -at- petvalu -dot- com> To:"'Holly Turner'" <hollyjoi -at- mindspring -dot- com>, TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 26 Nov 1999 13:39:05 -0500
Graphic Design for the Electronic Age (Jan V. White) supports right-ragged, and
among other comments, states:
We recognize words as groups of letters combined into a single visual image
rather than as a series of individual letters. How the individual letters
combine into their groups, then is vitally important for legibility. ...
..The negative spaces (spaces between the letters within the word and between
letter-groups) are equality vital for legibility....
..The resulting uneven spacing affects the visual rhythm of each line and
disturbs reading: it makes the eye stumble, as it tries to compensate for these
imbalances. That is trying work.
Because of studies Xerox had done on justification and readability, they no
longer use right justification in any of their manuals (at least in Canada).
Personally, I have not used it in years either.
Suzette Seveny
Markham, Ontario, Canada
sseveny -at- petvalu -dot- com or suzette -at- yesic -dot- com
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