Web Style Guide: TYPOGRAPHY - Sandhills Community College

Web Style Guide: TYPOGRAPHY
Until typographic options for Web pages become more sophisticated, we recommend that you use leftjustified
text blocks and headlines as the best solution for most layout situations.
Line length
Text on the computer screen is hard to read not only because of the low resolution of computer screens
but also because the layout of most Web pages violates a fundamental rule of book and magazine
typography: the lines of text on most Web pages are far too long for easy reading. Magazine and book
columns are narrow for physiological reasons: at normal reading distances the eye's span of acute focus
is only about three inches wide, so designers try to keep dense passages of text in columns not much
wider than that comfortable eye span. Wider lines of text require readers to move their heads slightly or
strain their eye muscles to track over the long lines of text. Readability suffers because on the long trip
back to the left margin the reader may lose track of the next line.
You can use invisible tables (BORDER="0") to restrict the text line length to about fifty to seventy
characters per line (see Page Design, Page layout). The exact character count is difficult to predict
because of the way different browser software and operating systems display type sizes. In conventional
print layouts, columns of thirty to forty characters per line are considered ideal.
In the end, the decision to restrict line length is a philosophical one. From a design standpoint, a measure
that is comfortable for reading is good practice. One of the fundamental principles of the Web, however,
is that users should be able to structure their own view. Users with a large monitor may not want their
text blocks circumscribed if it means that a large portion of their screen goes unused. A low-vision user
with fonts set large will not appreciate being forced to view long pages with short lines of text. So
although leaving text free to fill the browser window may affect readability, following conventions may
also affect the accessibility and legibility of your documents.
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