Re: Justify vs. left

["Thomas Michanek" <thomas.michanek@xxxxxxxxx>]

>If I could rummage up a few of your opinions regarding justify vs. left 
>alignment I would be grateful.  There are a lot of problems with justifying 
>and I'm not big on hyphenation.  I am leaning towards left alignment in our 
>manuals.  At least there aren't those awkward spaces.  Thanks.

This is a matter of style and taste. Here are some things to consider:
* If you are updating old manuals, is there a compelling reason for
  changing the former alignment of text? Readers tend to get used to
  things over time, and normally oppose changes to style, contents,
  layout, etc. unless it's clear the changes are welcomed.
* Does your company produce other types of manuals or documents?
  If so, is there an in-house "style guide" already in place that you
  should follow? If all other manuals are justified, perhaps you should
  do the same for consistency reasons. However, beware that very
  different documents, like marketing brochures, may very well use a
  different style for good reasons (see below).
* Do you produce manuals mainly for print, or for on-line PDF reading?
  Beware that justified text with "gaps" of space may look quite different
  in print compared to on-screen. Usually, it looks worse in print,
  depending on the higher resolution of the media.
* Traditionally, justified text is mainly used in very narrow columns of
  text, such as in newspapers. The uneven right margin that comes with
  using left-aligned text looks bad in narrow columns, but much better
  in wider text columns. In fact, if your text columns are wide, an uneven
  right margin can make it easier for the eye to follow the text, and
  gives a more "dynamic" appearance.
* Using justified text calls for using hyphenation. One without the other
  will result in ugly results, and ugly means less reader-friendly.

These are just my personal reflections, based on experience and a little
talent when it comes to typography and design :-)

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Thomas Michanek, [Michagon], Linkoping, Sweden
Documentation Consultant, FrameMaker/UNIX expert
EMAIL:  mailto:Thomas.Michanek@telia.com
WWW:    http://go.to/framers , or go directly to:
        http://w1.133.telia.com/~u13304072/framers
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