Along with several other elements on a page, the alignment of your text helps achieve the goals of technical communication (making the information easy to find and easy to read/understand). You need to align your text as appropriate for the information and your audience.

Studies have found that certain types of text alignment help people more easily find and read information. For a Western audience--most readers you'll find in the U.S.--the easiest to read is Left Justified text with a ragged right edge. That is how this text is written. This style does a couple of things. First, it supports the way people in the West have learned to read: left to right. Second, there is the ragged right edge, meaning an edge that is not straight, but different lengths because of the different word-lengths along the right edge.

The ragged right edge allows the eye to more quickly see where each line ends, and so it is easier to then begin each line. Though not that important when reading line by line, it becomes essential for trying to quickly scan a page to pick out needed information. Our eye can more rapidly do this with a ragged right edge. Text that is fully justified, meaning that both edges are completely straight and even, can still be read easily, but the information is more difficult to find quickly.

One of the most fundamental mistakes many people make is using centered text for the wrong reason.

This paragraph is completely centered. If you are from a Western country, like Western Europe or the U.S., you will notice how difficult it is to read large amounts of information when it is centered. The reason for this is due to the way we have learned to read in the U.S.: left to right. Centered text does not give our eyes any starting or ending cue. Hence, it takes longer to understand where a line begins and ends. Plus, the lines above and below obscure lines between them, so picking out information is very difficult.

This paragraph repeats the information of above. The reason why centered text is difficult to read is due to the way we have learned to read in the U.S.: left to right. Centered text does not give our eyes any starting or ending cue. Hence, it takes longer to understand where a line begins and ends. Plus, the lines above and below obscure lines between them, so picking out information is very difficult.

Centered text has been shown to be used more prominently by writers from Eastern countries. Especially on web sites from Eastern cultures, centered text is used heavily for large amounts of text. But for those in the West, centering text should be reserved for small amounts of information, such as headings or titles, but little else.

For technical, professional and business communication help in the Las Cruces, NM area, visit Lanier Infomedia. 

Last update: 27-03-2009 13:43