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In
typography Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), an ...
, a margin is the area between the main content of a page and the page edges. The margin helps to define where a line of text begins and ends. When a page is justified the text is spread out to be flush with the left and right margins. When two pages of content are combined next to each other (known as a
two-page spread Book design is the art of incorporating the content, style, format, design, and sequence of the various components and elements of a book into a coherent unit. In the words of renowned typographer Jan Tschichold (1902–1974), book design, "though ...
), the space between the two pages is known as the gutter. (Any space between columns of text is a gutter.) The top and bottom margins of a page are also called "head" and "foot", respectively. The term "margin" can also be used to describe the edge of internal content, such as the right or left edge of a
column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression (physical), compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column i ...
of text. Marks made in the margins are called
marginalia Marginalia (or apostils) are marks made in the margins of a book or other document. They may be scribbles, comments, glosses (annotations), critiques, doodles, drolleries, or illuminations. Biblical manuscripts Biblical manuscripts h ...
.


History


The scroll

Margins are an important method of organizing the written word, and have a long history. In ancient Egypt, writing was recorded on
papyrus Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, '' Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to ...
scrolls. Egyptian papyrus
scroll A scroll (from the Old French ''escroe'' or ''escroue''), also known as a roll, is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing. Structure A scroll is usually partitioned into pages, which are sometimes separate sheets of papyrus ...
s could reach up to 30 metres in length, and contained text organized in
columns A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression membe ...
laid out from left to right along the scroll. Columns were referred to as ''pagina'' (or pages) and were separated by margins, so that scrolls could be unrolled horizontally, uncovering individual sections one by one. Thus, in papyrus scrolls margins performed the function of visually signaling to readers when to stop reading and move down to the next line of text.


The codex

During the first three centuries BC, the scroll gradually began to be replaced by the
codex The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...
. Rather than storing text on one long, continuous piece of papyrus, the codex was constructed of individual pieces of
parchment Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins ...
, bound together on one side. Now that each page was separated physically from all the rest, margins became less necessary in distinguishing the beginning and end of the text-block. However, they took on a new role. Before the codex, commentaries about a text were usually recorded on separate scrolls. With the advent of the codex, margins (having been largely stripped of their original function) became extra space which could be used to incorporate commentaries next to the original text. Extra text and images included in the margins of codices are called
marginalia Marginalia (or apostils) are marks made in the margins of a book or other document. They may be scribbles, comments, glosses (annotations), critiques, doodles, drolleries, or illuminations. Biblical manuscripts Biblical manuscripts h ...
. Scholarly commentaries included in margins next to their source text are known as
scholia Scholia (singular scholium or scholion, from grc, σχόλιον, "comment, interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of t ...
. However, this was not the only purpose margins served in the codex. Even when no commentaries were added, most books continued to leave space around the text-block on all sides of each page. This marginal space served several practical purposes. Leaving blank space around text protects the typeblock by giving the reader somewhere to put his or her thumbs while holding the book. In addition, that blank space serves an important role in reading and understanding text. The exact effect of margins on legibility has been debated, but some scholars contend that without empty space to offset text, the task of reading could take more than twice as long. Finally, margins serve an aesthetic function by framing text inside a blank border.


The printed book

With the invention of the
printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...
, books began to be manufactured in large numbers. As paper began to be produced in bulk, page size and shape were increasingly determined by the size and shape of mould which was most practical for producers. As pages became more standardized, so did the size and shape of margins. In general, margins in books have grown smaller over time. The wide margins common during the Renaissance have given way to much narrower proportions. However, there is still much variation depending on the size and purpose of the book.


The digital page

Computers and the Internet have revolutionized our consumption of the written word. Books can now exist without physical pages, and text can be viewed on a myriad of devices. In the early days of the Internet, the concept of margins was foreign to web browsers. However, as computer screens got bigger this became an issue for the readability and aesthetics of text. The invention of more sophisticated techniques such as
CSS Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language used for describing the presentation of a document written in a markup language such as HTML or XML (including XML dialects such as SVG, MathML or XHTML). CSS is a cornerstone technolo ...
allowed designers to control the margins of their web pages and leave more white space. Although margin-less web pages do still exist, today it is generally understood that having wide enough margins to provide adequate white space around text is important to the usability and readability of digital text. In fact, margins become even more important because web content shares visual space with other elements such as the web browser's interface, as well as other icons and windows. Margins also play an important role in digital word-processing. The default margins for
Microsoft Word Microsoft Word is a word processor, word processing software developed by Microsoft. It was first released on October 25, 1983, under the name ''Multi-Tool Word'' for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other pla ...
from version 2007 onward have been 1 inch (25.4 mm) all around; in Word 2003, the default top and bottom margins were 1 inch (25.4 mm), but 1.25 inches (31.7 mm) were given at the left and the right. OpenOffice Writer and
LibreOffice Writer LibreOffice Writer is the free and open-source word processor and desktop publishing component of the LibreOffice software package and is a fork of OpenOffice.org Writer. Writer is a word processor similar to Microsoft Word and Corel's WordPerfe ...
have 0.79 inch (20 mm) all around.
LaTeX Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latexes are found in nature, but synthetic latexes are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants (angiosperms ...
varies the width of its margins depending on the font size. By default,
LaTeX Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latexes are found in nature, but synthetic latexes are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants (angiosperms ...
uses 1.5 inches margin sizes for 12pt documents, 1.75 inches for 11pt, and 1.875 inches for 10pt—relatively large margins. These adjustments are intended to allow a maximum of 66 characters per line, to increase readability. LaTeX/Page Layout – Wikibooks, open books for an open world. En.wikibooks.org (2010-12-16). Retrieved on 2010-12-30.


References

{{Typography terms Page layout