3 ms·

I also like monospaced fonts, but using them for articles is a bit unusual. Justifying monospaced fonts seems wrong on some levels, but who am I to judge. In m

I also like monospaced fonts, but using them for articles is a bit unusual. Justifying monospaced fonts seems wrong on some levels, but who am I to judge. In my browser only the spaces between words get stretched, spaces between letters are not affected.

hk__2 6y ago
If you care about your readers, justifying any font is wrong. Justification makes the text “look nice” but harder to read; it should be avoided as much as possible.
- garaetjjte 6y ago
  Justification generally isn't that bad, but browser implementation are much worse than real typesetting system, like TeX.
  - throwaway744678 6y ago
    Printed materials (books, newspaper) used to be justified manually. Is it still the case?
    - gerikson 6y ago
      No, it’s all automated. The open source world knows of TeX but there’s a plethora of proprietary justification algorithms used in commercial typesetting.
  - hk__2 6y ago
    Justification doesn’t make any sense. Why would you want to have spaces of variable size, making the text harder to read?
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
- jcelerier 6y ago
  having to read paragraphs over paragraphs of unjustified text is one of the things that make me the most easily go ctrl-W
  - hk__2 6y ago
    > having to read paragraphs over paragraphs of unjustified text is one of the things that make me the most easily go ctrl-W I guess you never went on Wikipedia, then ;)
- zeitg3ist 6y ago
  Does it make the text harder to read? A nice side effect of justifying text is that it makes easier to determine when a paragraph ends (or a line break occurs), especially if there's no vertical spacing between paragraphs. But justification needs to be paired with word breaks, otherwise lines with long words will look unnatural. Most (all?) books I have at home follow these two rules, and if they didn't they would look amateurish to me. Of course the web is a different beast, but if the line length is reasonable, I think the same rules can apply.
  - lancesells 6y ago
    That site is so much easier to read when you turn off: text-align: justify.
- corecoder 6y ago
  Is this your own personal opinion, or a fact? Are there sources to back that claim?
  - hk__2 6y ago
    This is one of the first things you learn in any Web accessibility class: "Centered or justified longer pieces of text can be hard to read as well. Justified text adds space in between words that can cause rivers of white space through lines making reading difficult for some users with dyslexia. If hyphenation is supported this can reduce this effect but hyphenated words can be a barrier for many readers." https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/page-structure/styling/#text-alignment https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/page-structure/styling/#tex... "Sometimes full justification makes reading more difficult because extra space between words causes “rivers of white” making it difficult to track along a line of text, or less space between words makes it difficult to distinguish separate words." https://w3c.github.io/low-vision-a11y-tf/requirements.html#justification https://w3c.github.io/low-vision-a11y-tf/requirements.html#j... "Many people with cognitive disabilities have a great deal of trouble with blocks of text that are justified (aligned to both the left and the right margins). The spaces between words create "rivers of white" running down the page, which can make the text difficult for some people to read. This failure describes situations where this confusing text layout occurs. The best way to avoid this problem is not to create text layout that is fully justified." https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/G169.html https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/G169.html "Fully justifying text can also present problems for people with dyslexia, where the large uneven spaces between words and sometimes letters within words can create what’s been termed “rivers of white” that run down the page and also make the line of print hard to follow. Readers find it more difficult to find the end of sentences and can repeatedly lose their place." http://mediaaccess.org.au/accessibledocumentservice/2015/08/text-justification-is-a-key-accessibility-issue-in-documents/ http://mediaaccess.org.au/accessibledocumentservice/2015/08/... "A lot of people seem to love justified text, arguing that it contributes to the feeling of a more consistent page layout. From a strictly accessibility-focused perspective however, justified text creates large uneven spaces between letters and words that make reading a little more difficult for all users, and even more so for users with dyslexia." https://dboudreau.tumblr.com/post/84344543792/avoid-justified-centered-or-right-aligned-text-in https://dboudreau.tumblr.com/post/84344543792/avoid-justifie...
- tuyiown 6y ago
  This is a bold statement, from what I see of Gutenberg's B42 bible on wikipedia, printing as been using justified text from day 1 :)
  - hk__2 6y ago
    > This is a bold statement, from what I see of Gutenberg's B42 bible on wikipedia, printing as been using justified text from day 1 :) Dyslexia wasn’t known back then :)

hk__2 6y ago

If you care about your readers, justifying any font is wrong. Justification makes the text “look nice” but harder to read; it should be avoided as much as possible.

garaetjjte 6y ago
Justification generally isn't that bad, but browser implementation are much worse than real typesetting system, like TeX.
- throwaway744678 6y ago
  Printed materials (books, newspaper) used to be justified manually. Is it still the case?
  - gerikson 6y ago
    No, it’s all automated. The open source world knows of TeX but there’s a plethora of proprietary justification algorithms used in commercial typesetting.
- hk__2 6y ago
  Justification doesn’t make any sense. Why would you want to have spaces of variable size, making the text harder to read?
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
jcelerier 6y ago
having to read paragraphs over paragraphs of unjustified text is one of the things that make me the most easily go ctrl-W
- hk__2 6y ago
  > having to read paragraphs over paragraphs of unjustified text is one of the things that make me the most easily go ctrl-W I guess you never went on Wikipedia, then ;)
zeitg3ist 6y ago
Does it make the text harder to read? A nice side effect of justifying text is that it makes easier to determine when a paragraph ends (or a line break occurs), especially if there's no vertical spacing between paragraphs. But justification needs to be paired with word breaks, otherwise lines with long words will look unnatural. Most (all?) books I have at home follow these two rules, and if they didn't they would look amateurish to me. Of course the web is a different beast, but if the line length is reasonable, I think the same rules can apply.
- lancesells 6y ago
  That site is so much easier to read when you turn off: text-align: justify.
corecoder 6y ago
Is this your own personal opinion, or a fact? Are there sources to back that claim?
- hk__2 6y ago
  This is one of the first things you learn in any Web accessibility class: "Centered or justified longer pieces of text can be hard to read as well. Justified text adds space in between words that can cause rivers of white space through lines making reading difficult for some users with dyslexia. If hyphenation is supported this can reduce this effect but hyphenated words can be a barrier for many readers." https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/page-structure/styling/#text-alignment https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/page-structure/styling/#tex... "Sometimes full justification makes reading more difficult because extra space between words causes “rivers of white” making it difficult to track along a line of text, or less space between words makes it difficult to distinguish separate words." https://w3c.github.io/low-vision-a11y-tf/requirements.html#justification https://w3c.github.io/low-vision-a11y-tf/requirements.html#j... "Many people with cognitive disabilities have a great deal of trouble with blocks of text that are justified (aligned to both the left and the right margins). The spaces between words create "rivers of white" running down the page, which can make the text difficult for some people to read. This failure describes situations where this confusing text layout occurs. The best way to avoid this problem is not to create text layout that is fully justified." https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/G169.html https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/G169.html "Fully justifying text can also present problems for people with dyslexia, where the large uneven spaces between words and sometimes letters within words can create what’s been termed “rivers of white” that run down the page and also make the line of print hard to follow. Readers find it more difficult to find the end of sentences and can repeatedly lose their place." http://mediaaccess.org.au/accessibledocumentservice/2015/08/text-justification-is-a-key-accessibility-issue-in-documents/ http://mediaaccess.org.au/accessibledocumentservice/2015/08/... "A lot of people seem to love justified text, arguing that it contributes to the feeling of a more consistent page layout. From a strictly accessibility-focused perspective however, justified text creates large uneven spaces between letters and words that make reading a little more difficult for all users, and even more so for users with dyslexia." https://dboudreau.tumblr.com/post/84344543792/avoid-justified-centered-or-right-aligned-text-in https://dboudreau.tumblr.com/post/84344543792/avoid-justifie...
tuyiown 6y ago
This is a bold statement, from what I see of Gutenberg's B42 bible on wikipedia, printing as been using justified text from day 1 :)
- hk__2 6y ago
  > This is a bold statement, from what I see of Gutenberg's B42 bible on wikipedia, printing as been using justified text from day 1 :) Dyslexia wasn’t known back then :)