[Sigia-l] text justification

[Pabini Gabriel-Petit]

Fred Leise said:
> In dealing with running text (not headlines), Colin Wheildon, in his study
of readability titled "Type & Layout" (Strathmoor Press, 1995) noted the
following results
>
> Lahout with totally justified setting: good comprehension: 67%; fair
comprehension: 19%; poor comprehension: 14%
>
> Layout with ragged right setting: good comprehension: 38%; fair
comprehension: 22%; poor comprehension: 40%
>
> Lahout with ragged left setting: good comprehension: 10%; fair
comprehension: 18%; poor comprehension: 72%
>
> Because this deals with eye tracking (and for readers whose language runs
from left to right), the results should be similar in an online environment.

Thanks for the bibliographical information. It looks like an interesting
book.

This is excellent data for print media, Fred, but that first result would
differ for online text. People have difficulty with justified text online,
because it doesn't render very well. Maybe someday it will be better.

Pabini
________________________________________

Pabini Gabriel-Petit
Principal & User Experience Architect
Spirit Softworks
www.spiritsoftworks.com