Web Columns
Setting paragraph text for
optimum readability.
The following tables display text set to 1.5 and 2 times the width of
the lower case alphabet. Widths outside of this range are not optimum
for readability of text. It's something worth keeping in mind as you
design web pages.
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
The line above shows a text string
whose length is 2 times the length of the lower case alphabet. When you
display paragraph text, you really should use fixed
widths for the columns your text wraps into.
My background is in printing and typesetting. During my pre-web life, I
used to build typsetting systems and interface pcs to photo
typesetters.
The code we used, by the way, was all XML format, so
when I stumbled
upon HTML in 1995, I felt really at home...
Anyway, for copyfitting readable paragraph text, we used a formula of
'approx' 1.5 - 2 times the length of the lower case alphabet for the
font we were using.
If you past this text into the container for your paragraph text, it
will let you adjust the width of the text for optimium readbility -
regardless of the font used.
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklm
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Another consideration are line breaks. You may want to dynamically
adjust your table width to 'tune' the width based upon the raggedness
of a ragged right format. The same setting will eliminate 'rivers' of
white space in justified text.
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abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmno
The line above shows a text string
whose length is just over 1.5 times the length
of the lower case alphabet. When you display paragraph text, you really
should use fixed
widths for the columns your text wraps into.
My background is in printing and typesetting. During my pre-web life, I
used to build typsetting systems and interface pcs to photo
typesetters.
The code we used, by the way, was all XML format, so
when I stumbled
upon HTML in 1995, I felt really at home...
Anyway, for copyfitting readable paragraph text, we used a formula of
'approx' 1.5 - 2 times the length of the lower case alphabet for the
font we were using.
If you past this text into the container for your paragraph text, it
will let you adjust the width of the text for optimium readbility -
regardless of the font used.
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklm
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This is a more important consideration than using all of
the real
estate available. Nothing's worse than reading 10 point type set a mile
wide...
ex:
=======================================
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklm
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
=======================================
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklm
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
abcdefghijklm
nopqrstuvwxyz
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