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Text Alignment

The rules for text on the Web are different from the conventions used to compose documents to be printed; this edition will discuss text alignment on the Web. Eng. María José Serres, ARTech Marketing Team.

In general, pages on the Internet are not read word by word, but are scanned looking for words that catch the attention and facilitate the text's general idea or main concept. If this is achieved, it is only then that the text is carefully read.

Since we read from left to right and from top to bottom (at least in the Western world), the expected alignment is to the left. When reading a text on the Internet, this is precisely the direction the reader's eyes look while searching for the beginning of each line. This is the recommended alignment in all the texts I have consulted.

(I recommend The Element of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst, http://www.evsc.k12.in.us/icats/tool/webdesign/design.htm, http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/typeonscreen/, http://www.stthomas.edu/webauthor/Page_Design/typography.htm)

The justified text is not recommended for the Internet since the present technology does not support it well. Justification causes uneven spacing between words that makes reading difficult and needs to be manually edited for correct alignment. Clusters of spaces are formed on the uniform, symmetric, boring and uninviting text blocks. Some studies say it is difficult to find specific information when the text has this type of alignment.

A centered or right alignment makes the reader's eyes jump from left to right at every line looking for the beginning of the text, making the text's reading and navigation difficult.

The same applies to titles; the best way is to have titles, page headers, etc., aligned to the left. It is the best option to facilitate reading and scanning of information on a Web page.

   Justified             Right                  Central                 Left

Line Width

The available width for text on a Web page is greater than the one generally used on books and magazines. The text columns on books and magazines are narrow since they are usually read in 3-inch-wide word blocks (7.62 cm 216 pixels). If the lines are wider, a slight head movement or tensing of the eye muscles is required to follow the text line without losing the meaning. In addition, long lines cause the reader to skip lines when trying to find the next line to the left.

To achieve this, it is recommended to create tables with 50 to 60 characters per line of text. The following are the recommendations when using 10-point Verdana as our font type and size:

Detail In GeneXus

Without border

Border=0

Width between 200 and 365 pixels

Width=216

 

Following these suggestions, we use a full paragraph from the text in order to fit in the recommended 3-inch width.

On our next issue we will continue learning about fonts.

Related
Usability Tips: Browsing Consistency
Browsing: Visibility and Proportions
Contents of the Menu Options
Typography
Fonts
Usability: Colors, Contrast and Underlining