Justified Type is classier for online content: Copywriting standards
Tuesday, February 28, 2012 at 11:24AM
Do you use justified type (block justification) for your online content jobs due to its classier look? If so, have you been advised that you need to instead follow the latest web standards, which entail displaying all content left justified?
Of course, words in newspapers, books, magazine articles and ads are justified at the left and the right. Online, when it’s carelessly set, however, this block type can look distorted with extra spaces.
After researching the evolution of online writing, I'm perplexed as to why online writing standards could possibly be below typewritten standards used by the literary world for a long time. I have learned that online writing interfaces were—from the start—easier to program for left justification from a technological standpoint. To this end, they didn't follow the classier standards of the literary world.
Copywriters and web designers today can be rest assured now that modern writing tools are catching up, offering the easily accessible capability to use justified—or full—type. It's not only classier but more visually appealing to the eye. It does take more effort by the copywriter to tweak the justified look so that the text does not look distorted and hard to read at times. Proper justification is, in fact, a tricky technique to master. In spite of that, it’s well worth the effort if high quality, professional-looking typography is your goal.