Justification comparison
:: Thursday, March 22nd, 2007 @ 6:54:23 pm
:: Tags: Computers
I am growing increasingly in disfavor of fully justified text. All of the journal text on echeng.com is justified. This is a test to see whether left-aligned text looks better. Help me decide by leaving a comment with your opinion!
Area 1: Justified Text
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Nulla fermentum metus in tortor. Quisque ante. In et eros. Proin eget risus. Phasellus pharetra erat non elit. Curabitur aliquam. Sed id odio id sapien mattis euismod. Morbi dui ligula, varius id, luctus vel, pharetra vitae, odio. Vivamus quis lectus eu erat vestibulum egestas. Aenean sed nisi. Fusce sed mauris quis quam aliquam dictum. Nam vitae elit eu arcu tincidunt venenatis. Proin gravida est ac dolor. Aenean suscipit. Duis molestie dolor sit amet augue. Etiam a pede eu ipsum pharetra ultrices. Aliquam vel eros quis nibh varius mollis. Ut imperdiet auctor augue. Maecenas felis mi, dignissim vitae, ornare ac, egestas vel, odio.
Cras ut diam a massa rhoncus ultrices. Praesent eu ipsum a elit consectetuer pharetra. Etiam tempus. Nulla facilisi. Ut vel odio in urna accumsan tincidunt. Duis euismod lectus a dui. Morbi auctor, mauris ut consectetuer condimentum, nunc arcu luctus lorem, eget iaculis lectus metus nec velit. Cras vitae nisl. Vestibulum semper gravida erat. Cras placerat. Integer bibendum pellentesque dolor. Nunc suscipit. Nullam magna dui, varius tincidunt, tempor non, aliquam vitae, nunc. Nam iaculis, dolor eu facilisis malesuada, tortor est sagittis velit, eget mattis mauris tortor non sapien. Etiam nibh neque, suscipit in, posuere vitae, lacinia tincidunt, leo. Aliquam orci nisl, nonummy bibendum, venenatis et, molestie sit amet, ligula.
Curabitur eget nisl sit amet tellus accumsan lobortis. Curabitur eu sem ac erat tempor tempus. Mauris interdum iaculis leo. Nullam ultricies blandit erat. Phasellus luctus eros pulvinar nulla. In dolor ipsum, mollis eget, varius vel, tristique ut, dui. Duis quis lorem. Cras rutrum. Nullam quis nibh. Proin eros velit, suscipit non, nonummy ut, fermentum quis, libero. Cras a justo. Sed ultricies mollis mauris.
Etiam egestas, arcu quis gravida aliquam, orci purus eleifend lorem, sit amet lobortis erat lorem vel quam. Praesent laoreet pulvinar enim. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Aliquam dui. Nulla facilisis viverra nunc. Curabitur placerat ante at tortor. Sed bibendum, dolor quis tincidunt accumsan, sem leo ullamcorper urna, consequat venenatis eros tellus id magna. Ut mi nisi, porttitor in, consectetuer eget, laoreet commodo, lorem. Aenean consequat, quam vitae vehicula tincidunt, eros lorem ultrices neque, a aliquam pede ipsum sed magna. Donec pellentesque blandit orci. Maecenas volutpat nibh auctor urna.
Test 2: Left-Aligned Text
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Nulla fermentum metus in tortor. Quisque ante. In et eros. Proin eget risus. Phasellus pharetra erat non elit. Curabitur aliquam. Sed id odio id sapien mattis euismod. Morbi dui ligula, varius id, luctus vel, pharetra vitae, odio. Vivamus quis lectus eu erat vestibulum egestas. Aenean sed nisi. Fusce sed mauris quis quam aliquam dictum. Nam vitae elit eu arcu tincidunt venenatis. Proin gravida est ac dolor. Aenean suscipit. Duis molestie dolor sit amet augue. Etiam a pede eu ipsum pharetra ultrices. Aliquam vel eros quis nibh varius mollis. Ut imperdiet auctor augue. Maecenas felis mi, dignissim vitae, ornare ac, egestas vel, odio.
Cras ut diam a massa rhoncus ultrices. Praesent eu ipsum a elit consectetuer pharetra. Etiam tempus. Nulla facilisi. Ut vel odio in urna accumsan tincidunt. Duis euismod lectus a dui. Morbi auctor, mauris ut consectetuer condimentum, nunc arcu luctus lorem, eget iaculis lectus metus nec velit. Cras vitae nisl. Vestibulum semper gravida erat. Cras placerat. Integer bibendum pellentesque dolor. Nunc suscipit. Nullam magna dui, varius tincidunt, tempor non, aliquam vitae, nunc. Nam iaculis, dolor eu facilisis malesuada, tortor est sagittis velit, eget mattis mauris tortor non sapien. Etiam nibh neque, suscipit in, posuere vitae, lacinia tincidunt, leo. Aliquam orci nisl, nonummy bibendum, venenatis et, molestie sit amet, ligula.
Curabitur eget nisl sit amet tellus accumsan lobortis. Curabitur eu sem ac erat tempor tempus. Mauris interdum iaculis leo. Nullam ultricies blandit erat. Phasellus luctus eros pulvinar nulla. In dolor ipsum, mollis eget, varius vel, tristique ut, dui. Duis quis lorem. Cras rutrum. Nullam quis nibh. Proin eros velit, suscipit non, nonummy ut, fermentum quis, libero. Cras a justo. Sed ultricies mollis mauris.
Etiam egestas, arcu quis gravida aliquam, orci purus eleifend lorem, sit amet lobortis erat lorem vel quam. Praesent laoreet pulvinar enim. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Aliquam dui. Nulla facilisis viverra nunc. Curabitur placerat ante at tortor. Sed bibendum, dolor quis tincidunt accumsan, sem leo ullamcorper urna, consequat venenatis eros tellus id magna. Ut mi nisi, porttitor in, consectetuer eget, laoreet commodo, lorem. Aenean consequat, quam vitae vehicula tincidunt, eros lorem ultrices neque, a aliquam pede ipsum sed magna. Donec pellentesque blandit orci. Maecenas volutpat nibh auctor urna.
Journal RSS 
Hmm. I don’t think i’d have noticed had you not said anything ;) At a quick glance, justified looks better to me, especially when the picture is thrown into the mix, but people with brains much larger and more complex than my own argue it’s slightly less readable than left-aligned.
Uhh… consider this a vote for “no preference” :)
i’m on the fence about left-aligned vs. justified. both look funny in edge cases, such as really long words that won’t fit on their line and have to be pushed to the next one down. left-aligned leaves a gaping hole on the right side of the page; justified stretches out the remaining words to ridiculous spacings.
i do like justified text flowing around images, though. makes a nice little frame.
yay, two unhelpful comments so far! ;)
justified … while neater is too newspapery for me .. I like both .. I dont think in a space like this though you need justified it does still work as there appears to be plenty of empty space on the page (on my screen) and you use a lot of images which also take aay from the page potentially being FULL of justtext .. which defeats the point of justified making the page more readable.
left align works also here.
Maybe you could switch it up and have .. main text justified with all quotes .. code .. indented tabs and comments left justified ?
thanks to your clear area borders justified text in the posts is not lost in other content.
IMO justified works v well with images floating in text .. so maybe is it possible to left align text not wrapped around an image and justify that which has an image to its side ?
its a debate that at the end of the day boild down to your personal choice .. hell it’s one word in css .. change it as you change your mind !
I like your site how it is .. but its yours so i wont shout if you change
whut?
sorry did i stutter ?
What about right-aligned?
Or, use the various alignments as a sorting mechanism for post topics:
Right-aligned for posts about people killing sharks Left-aligned for posts about holding other people’s babies Justified for everything else (though there may not be enough justified posts now)
And if you need more alignments for granularity, you can use the same three with the ‘chaotic’ modifier. :)
Of the two you showed, I think I prefer left-aligned.
“whut?”
lol omg
Justified “looks” better to me until I try to actually read the content, then left is easier to read. Like many things, “looks” may not be best choice, for me at least.