Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
therefore, on the search for a desirable text setting. In a paragraph set flush-left, ragged
right (FLRR), the word spaces are uniform. This is also true in a paragraph set flush-
right, ragged left (FRRL) and in a centered paragraph. The word space in a justified
paragraph, however, varies because the width of the paragraph is mathematically fixed,
and the words on any given line must align on both sides—no matter how many words
or how long they are. In justified text, wordspacing variation is the single most difficult
issue to overcome. The result of poorly justified text in which the wordspace constantly
changes is a preponderance of rivers—chains of white negative space that visually join
each other from line to line. In particularly bad justified setting, the rivers are even more
apparent than the interline space, causing the paragraph to become a jumble of strange
word clusters. One method of minimizing this problem is to find the optimal flush-
left paragraph width for the size of the type before justifying—and then to widen the
paragraph slightly or shrink the type size by a half-point or a point. This adjustment can
result in an optimal number of characters and words that comfortably fit upon justific-
ation and can compensate for the potential of long words to create undesirable spacing.
A slightly wider paragraph also allows some flexibility in how words are broken from
line to line and gives the designer more options for re-breaking text to make it fit with
good spacing. Ragged paragraphs offer the opportunity to avoid the spacing issues in-
herent in justified text. The word spaces in these kinds of paragraphs remain constant.
Ragged setting also introduces the pronounced textural effect of an organic edge whose
opposition to the hard edge of the alignment imparts an immediate visual contrast to the
page, as well as provides optical separation between horizontally arranged paragraphs.
Changing line lengths within the ragged edge helps the reader establish breaks more
easily and therefore differentiate individual lines on the return.
