From xod@sixgirls.org Thu Apr 04 07:55:39 2002 Return-Path: X-Sender: xod@reva.sixgirls.org X-Apparently-To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Received: (EGP: mail-8_0_3_1); 4 Apr 2002 15:55:40 -0000 Received: (qmail 42794 invoked from network); 4 Apr 2002 15:55:40 -0000 Received: from unknown (66.218.66.216) by m9.grp.scd.yahoo.com with QMQP; 4 Apr 2002 15:55:40 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO reva.sixgirls.org) (216.27.131.50) by mta1.grp.scd.yahoo.com with SMTP; 4 Apr 2002 15:55:38 -0000 Received: from localhost (localhost [[UNIX: localhost]]) by reva.sixgirls.org (8.11.6+3.4W/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g34FtZd00614 for ; Thu, 4 Apr 2002 10:55:35 -0500 (EST) Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 10:55:34 -0500 (EST) To: lojban@yahoogroups.com Subject: Ragged right (was: Updated materials) In-Reply-To: Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII From: Invent Yourself X-Yahoo-Group-Post: member; u=1138703 X-Yahoo-Profile: throwing_back_the_apple On Wed, 3 Apr 2002, Jim Carter wrote: > On Wed, 3 Apr 2002, Lee Daniel Crocker wrote: > > > (Robin Turner ): > > > Looks good - congratualations to Nick! Only one gripe- it's nice to > see a > > > PDF version, but it would be better if the lines were justified > rather than > > > ragged right. The same is true of PS output from the teX version. > > > > Ick. Why? The publishing industry has been moving away from > > justified text for years, since ragged-right text is almost always > > more readable. Why bring it back? > > Hmmm. Of the technical journals I come into contact with, only > Communications of the ACM is ragged right, and I find it harder to read. > Looking at my own running text, I think it looks a lot better justified > than ragged right. The eye only needs to be able to predict where the next line starts because that's where it jumps to. The eye never jumps to the end of a line, and so never needs to be able to predict where that is. So there's no need to introduce unpredictable spacings, which intrude on the eye's ability to predict where the next WORD is, in order to ease a task it will never perform. These links say ragged right is easier: http://www.deakin.edu.au/~agoodman/scc110/lecture11.pdf http://writing.colostate.edu/references/documents/desktop_publishing/pop5u.cfm http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/archives/9509/techwhirl-9509-00438.html http://www.paralegals.org/Reporter/Winter00/pg14.htm http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:GjjII7fkyegC:www.unm.edu/~jerome/tech_com.htm+readability+ragged&hl=en&lr=lang_en This one is neutral: http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-html/1996May/0363.html This one says its harder. http://eserver.org/courses/w01/tc510/hades/kaltenbach1.htm -- "You know, it's a funny thing, every one of the bastards that are out for legalizing marijuana is Jewish. What the Christ is the matter with the Jews, Bob? What is the matter with them? I suppose it is because most of them are psychiatrists." -- President Nixon, 26 May 1971