Formatting an eBook - Left justify or Justified

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

I find it interesting so many prefer full-justification over left-justify as the natural way to right, in our right-to-left conventions anyway, is left-justify. How many hand written or typed papers have you ever wrote that were full-justified?

But an eBook isn't hand-written, and full justification goes right back to the first days of movable type. How many commercially printed books do you have that are left-justified?

[GeoffC]

Ragged Right please ....

Interesting Harry most of the pbooks I have are 'ragged right' .

Also looking at my newspaper, it uses both full justification and ragged right. Of the two, the latter is far easier to read.

[Ea]

I'm really surprised to hear this - ragged right in p-books and the papers?!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

Ragged Right please ....

Interesting Harry most of the pbooks I have are 'ragged right' .

I've just pulled a dozen books at random from my bookcase and all are fully justified. What kind of books are these that use left-justification? There are certainly some areas where you want it (eg poetry), but it seems (in my experience) to be rare for general fiction.

[GeoffC]

How would you describe the layout of the articles on the BBC website ?

[Ea]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I've just pulled a dozen books at random from my bookcase and all are fully justified.

Same here.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

How would you describe the layout of the articles on the BBC website ?

But that's a news site, neither a p-book or a paper... Are we talking about different things?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

How would you describe the layout of the articles on the BBC website ?

But that's a web site, not a book.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by Ea

But that's a news site, neither a p-book or a paper...

Okay, the newspaper is the Times, uses both ....

[Ea]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

Okay, the newspaper is the Times, uses both ....

Also in print? I'm more curious about the p-books though..

[GeoffC]

My apologies, the books I looked at immediately were ones (coincidently ? accidently ? ) showing dialog on the pages I browsed through.

On closer inspection, you are both correct .....

[Though I stand by my newspaper example !]

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

My apologies, the books I looked at immediately were ones (coincidently ? accidently ? ) showing dialog on the pages I browsed through.

On closer inspection, you are both correct .....

[Though I stand by my newspaper example !]

No problem. I was just intrigued by all your left-justified books .

I suspect that newspapers probably use left justification because full justification doesn't work very well with narrow columns. That's just a guess, though.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

My apologies, the books I looked at immediately were ones (coincidently ? accidently ? ) showing dialog on the pages I browsed through.

On closer inspection, you are both correct .....

[Though I stand by my newspaper example !]

That's fine I was merely puzzled as to how that could be - sounded very unusual But who knows?

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I suspect that newspapers probably use left justification because full justification doesn't work very well with narrow columns. That's just a guess, though.

Yes. About the only place where you can see ragged-right text in print is in magazines and newspapers with narrow columns.

As for handwritten or typed text, I always full-justify what I write as much as I can. If I write by hand I hyphenate properly, if I use a typewriter I've been known to double-count the spaces left in a line to find a good break point, if I use a computer I simply turn justification on

[The Straven]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

Plus I just do not like reading in a box.

Indeed; I have dispensed with quaint notions of formatting and typesetting altogether, and think someone ought to add "no justification" as a poll option. I now consume ("reading" is such a passé term) all my fiction as bowls of Alpha-Bits cereal--it starts in a box, to be honest, but a bowl and a splash of milk mixes the letters up nicely. I mean, really, do we even need such archaisms as sentences and words in this enlightened age? I'll feel it in my gut if it's good writing, even if I don't really understand it. "Counterantidisestablishmentarianism", there was never a more tasty mouthful!

P.S. Currently chewing my way through the unabridged War and Peace.

P.P.S. I actually like "justified".