Comments on: Choosing Type Alignments for the Web

By: Kevin Francis

Kevin Francis — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 11:08:53 +0000

Sudden peaks and valleys (Figure 2) can be minimised by setting your measure to multiples of the font size used.

p { font-size: 1em; }
#column { width: 20em; }

By: Cyprian Gwóźdź

Cyprian Gwóźdź — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:21:48 +0000

I want to see CSS3’s column implementation option. It will give much more possibilities than todays CSS2.

By: ReussyLoyapydup

ReussyLoyapydup — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 06:07:43 +0000

plsopqtbxczrlrltwell, hi admin adn people nice forum indeed. how’s life? hope it’s introduce branch

By: Antonio García Aprea

Antonio García Aprea — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 18:47:17 +0000

Left align is the most appropriate choice 4 me, it is the way we write… I mean, with a real pen and a real piece of paper

By: Kyle Meyer

Kyle Meyer — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 02:32:57 +0000

Vivek: Great point on the issue of column width, but I think it really comes down to line-length. While 500 pixels may eliminate rivers on 10 to 11 pixel text, it becomes much less effective on text greater than 14 or so pixels in size. But I can’t argue that properly set justified text is a beautiful thing.

By: Vivek

Vivek — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 07:43:13 +0000

I differ in opinion on use of left align.
I prefer using justified alignment for major text of webpages. Since with increase in width of paragraph, say above 500px, so said rivers and line space diminish. Choice for me and many others are also governed by font in use. When using formal fonts like Georgia or Times New Roman, I stick to justified for better clean sharp aesthetic look. On the other hand a flashy site sporting wide range of color palette, it doesn’t make much difference.

All being said, typography for print and web have different approaches as web text is subject to resizing and zooming by users. So no matter what’s used in Times or Post (on paper), web text alignment will have it’s different driving force.

By: barney

barney — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 15:55:10 +0000

To be perfectly honest, I haven’t met a designer who stands by justified copy – in any circumstance. One might even say that it can’t be justified.

But ‘justified’ is a lovely word, and justified text has a lot of neat straight angles. ‘Ragged’ is a nasty one, and all those lines ending at whichever point they see fit is off-putting for many people (not designers, but then not designers are ideally a designer’s target audience). The number of times I’ve struggled to justify myself when I refuse to justify text for a client is terrible, really.

Your design does something wonderful though, Kyle: The single column of copy has a lovely huge left margin and a smaller (but still considerable) right one to buffer the ragged edge. It glorifies the naked text, as opposed to forcing Bottox on in. Which is nice.

By: pablopabla

pablopabla — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 03:42:47 +0000

I use justified for my site. Perhaps it is a peculiar personal preference as I also ensure that my correspondences at work are also typed out in a justified manner. It just somehow looks neater.

By: kristarella

kristarella — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 12:15:24 +0000

Good article. Your use of images was really helpful in demonstrating your points.

I use justified on my site. I have noticed some level of rivers, mostly when the text is next to an image, otherwise it’s not too bad. I just really like the way the block of justified text defines the post space and separates it from the sidebar next to it. Your site is different because the sidebar is on the left of the text, so it still has the straight side of the sidebar box meeting up with the straight edge of the left-aligned text. I think that’s a good decision for your site.

Thanks for the info!

By: Kyle Meyer

Kyle Meyer — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 21:29:47 +0000

Michael: Centered text has its uses but I see centering more as a line of free floating text positioned on the grid anywhere, it generally is never appropriate for body copy, so that’s why I skipped over it.

Thanks for the comments both of you.