5   Page and Screen Design

Justification

Justification refers to how the lines of text line up at the left and right margins. All text is left justified—all lines start at the left margin. But text can also be fully justified—lines can line up at the right margin as well. This paragraph is fully justified. Magazines and newspapers are almost always fully justified, but manuals are usually not.

Fully justifying text often results in awkward word spacing, which affects reading speed. Magazines and newspapers can often avoid some of these problems by hyphenating words, or by having their sophisticated typesetting equipment automatically kern words on a line (kerning refers to adjusting the letter spacing of words). Since most word processors can’t kern in the same way, and hyphenating words slows reading speed, avoid fully justifying text.

A ‘ragged’ right margin makes it easier for the reader’s eyes to move from line to line. Most of the paragraphs in this Web site, including this one, are left justified and have ragged right margins.