Justified Text vs Jagged Right Margin

Most all printed text in media books, magazines, newspapers and magazines are justified.  During the process of the new site redesign we decided to set text to be justified.  In general I do not have a preference when reading, over justified text or a jagged right margin.

The decision for Ja Kel Daily was made after analyzing the over all look of the site and determining from our opinion mostly that the over all look is better for the site. What do you think?

There have been many debatable arguments made in support of both justified text and keeping with the jagged right margin.  Supporters of justified text will tell you that it looks professional but the jaggetors will quickly let you know that it comes at the expense of readability.

My overall observation of the blogosphere is that most everyone is using jagged right margins. Is it time to make a change and go with the mainstream look or are you having trouble reading this article because I’ve justified it? 

September 6, 2007 | posted in The Net 

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12 Responses to “Justified Text vs Jagged Right Margin”

  1. digitalnomad on September 6th, 2007

    Well, my background is graphic design, and it has been proven from readability studies over the years that justified copy is easier to read.

  2. james on September 6th, 2007

    It looks just fine to me and it makes the text area look full. I had no trouble with readability either.

  3. playing the role of Madame on September 7th, 2007

    huh, i never thought of justified text… don’t know how i’d do it in blogspot though.

  4. Online Community Building on September 7th, 2007

    My old blog design had justified text but I decided to do away with it for my current design. I really don’t think it matters that much, to be honest.

    I think the justified text looks good on your blog though, as the design seems to have very strong columned margins… does that even make sense?!?

    - Martin Reed

  5. Jason Neuman on September 7th, 2007

    Blogspot has a justify button on the tool bar when writting your article.

    Yes, Martin makes since to me. :)

  6. Life is Colourful on September 7th, 2007

    It’s looking good and I think justified text increases the readability of text. Eventually we will come to know from the comments to this post, how many of them are liking it though. Because this data gonna be the final one to decide for you.

  7. Fun Forge on September 8th, 2007

    I don’t think being a little rough around the edges is such a bad thing…;)

    Of course, there’s personal preference and your layout/design that I think should be factors in the decision.

  8. Jason Neuman on September 9th, 2007

    Some great input so far - thanks

  9. Traveller on September 10th, 2007

    Aesthetically speaking, justified is quite clearly better. However, sometimes it can impact readability especially when don’t hyphenate long words. My two cents worth… :)

  10. Salman Siddiqui on September 15th, 2007

    justify is the way to go for it but wordpress has no special button for that??

    any suggestions how to make it easier for my blog??

  11. Jason Neuman on September 17th, 2007

    You have to edit your style.css file in your dashboard. Find your blog post content section and add this text-align: justify; to the code.

  12. Horstradamus on November 20th, 2007

    I believe with your layout and font selection, the full justification looks great and is very readable.

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