Since you were so useful in answering my question about which font to use in a professional document (in a creative field), here’s another issue I’m dealing with: I heard that fully-justified text might be out of style and can make for bad page layout. What’s your take on this debate?
This article claims that there is no right or wrong when it comes to page layout and that it all depends on the type of document. The technical and marketing writer in my house believes that full-justification creates too much white space through the lines and makes the text hard to read.
I should precise that the document I’m working on will be published with MS Word and printed (vs read on a computer screen). Also, the 50 pages guideline we received from the tv broadcaster – whose call for entries we are answering – is fully-justified, and I believe that this is what my boss will want to go for as well. Most people think fully-justified looks more pro. This guy’s take on the issue is interesting:
In other words, the reason that some people, including your boss, prefer full-justification has little to do with aesthetics. In most cases, the reason for the preference is technical: until the emergence of the personal computer, any attempt at full justification was next to impossible for the average person. As a result, when word processors made full justification a possibility, many people jumped at the chance to use it on the grounds that it looked more sophisticated.
Among typographers, however, the general consensus is that, with a tool like MS Word, you’re better off with left-justified text. Do a search, and you should have no problem finding dozens of expert opinions to back up this contention.
Still, I’m curious to know if there’s a trend about this right now in the oh so hip world of desktop publishing.
