[Athen] Left-aligned vs justified text

[Leyna Bencomo]

Thanks for that thorough explanation.  I am a font-nerd at heart (albeit an extreme novice) and you speak the language of my gods! ;)

Leyna Bencomo
Assistive Technology Specialist
Information Technology
University of Colorado Colorado Springs
1420 Austin Bluffs Parkway, EPC 215
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
(719) 255-4202 / lbencomo at uccs.edu<mailto:lbencomo at uccs.edu>
http://www.uccs.edu/~it/
[uccs-signature-email]
(Please excuse typos, I am using dictation software temporarily)



From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Chagnon | PubCom
Sent: Wednesday, July 5, 2017 8:34 AM
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network' <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Left-aligned vs justified text

RE: accessibility, I don't see anything in the current WCAG or PDF/UA requiring justified or ragged text. If it was there, it would most likely be under Guideline 3.1 Readable: Make text content readable and understandable. I do recall that something was in one of them a while back, but it was inaccurate and I never paid any attention to it.

Long discussion with summary at the end:

Speaking as a professional graphic designer with substantial research into design, human behavior, and technology...

In the graphic design world, countless studies have been done to determine whether ragged right (or left aligned) text is more readable than justified. So far neither has been proven to be better than the other. The most critical factors in both settings is how well the text is controlled (or in design-speak, "set") by the designer and by the technology.

I've conducted a lot of research on typography during my career and use these guidelines for my own work as well as in my classes for designers and developers:
*         In HTML-based digital technologies (websites and EPUBs), left aligned (ragged right) is best. HTML technologies do not yet have H & J algorithms (hyphenation and justification) so you can end up with huge gaps of white space between words and letters when the document is reflowed for responsive designs, such as on mobile devices.
*         In documents such as Word and PDFs, it depends upon how well the designer controlled the H & J settings (most don't even know what they are), the software, the font size, and the line length. There are a lot of variables!
*         For example, if the designer used Adobe InDesign, most likely either left aligned or justified will look and behave well because InDesign has the best H & J algorithms developed for the graphic design industry.
*         But the ratio between font size and line length is critical; too large a font on too short a line length and will create terrible text with white gaps, even from InDesign.
*         Word's H & J is mediocre; you can end up with horrible text with huge gaps of white space when it's justified, unless the author knows how to set type.
*         In any technology, if the designer/developer/author "hardwires" the justification settings into the file (that is, they did not use CSS or formatting styles to control the appearance), any technology that needs to grab the content and alter the presentation to the user will have a difficult time, regardless of whether justified or left aligned was used. We really have to train authors and designers to use styles, and never use manual formatting. It kills responsiveness and adaptability for AT.
And of course, whatever the designer or author does in InDesign or Word is built into the PDF which gets published.
Summary:

  1.  If presented via HTML technologies, use ragged right/left justified text.
  2.  If manually formatted into the content, AT will have some problems adapting it for the end user. Ragged right would be better, but should still never be manually formatted or hardwired into the content.
  3.  If the PDF's source document was created in Adobe InDesign, either will be fine for most documents, unless larger fonts are used on narrow columns.
  4.  If the PDF's source document was created in MS Word, it's dicey. Use ragged right/left justified.
--Bevi Chagnon

- - -
Bevi Chagnon | www.PubCom.com<http://www.pubcom.com/>
Technologists, Consultants, Trainers, Designers, and Developers
for publishing & communication

| Acrobat PDF | Print | EPUBS | Sec. 508 Accessibility |

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From: athen-list [mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman13.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Christine Robinson
Sent: Wednesday, July 5, 2017 9:24 AM
To: athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Athen] Left-aligned vs justified text

Hi -

Can anybody tell me, for certain, whether there are accessibility standards regarding making text left-aligned instead of justified, in both web pages and electronic documents such as Word and PDF?

thanks!
Chris

Christine Robinson | Technical Trainer/Writer | Center for Teaching Excellence
Georgia Gwinnett College | 1000 University Center Lane, Suite A-1020 | Lawrenceville, GA 30043
678-407-5193

My job is about helping the GGC community make better use of our commonly-used technology.
Feel free to ask me for help!

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