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Optical margin alignment outdents letters like A, V, W, Y, and punctuation into the margins to align the text border optically. Some users remark that it makes the text margin look crooked, but this is because text frames or margin guides are visible. If text frames are not visible, e.g. in print preview, or when printed, the edge of a block of text looks more even if optical margin alignment is enabled.
From the earliest days of machine printing, punctuation and Drop Capitals were indented slightly into the margin, as can be seen in the pages of the Gutenberg BibleGutenberg Bible
/ref> in the British Library. Word-processing software lacks this attention to detail that could be achieved when manually setting type page by page, but professional page layout software like InDesign, Ventura and Serif PagePlus can now achieve this with a fine level of adjustment over which letters to indent into the margin and by how much.
Micro-typographic Extensions of pdfTEX in Practice
- Hàn Thé Thành, University of Education, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
- (RussellViers.com) Typography
Optical margin alignment outdents letters like A, V, W, Y, and punctuation into the margins to align the text border optically. Some users remark that it makes the text margin look crooked, but this is because text frames or margin guides are visible. If text frames are not visible, e.g. in print preview, or when printed, the edge of a block of text looks more even if optical margin alignment is enabled.
From the earliest days of machine printing, punctuation and Drop Capitals were indented slightly into the margin, as can be seen in the pages of the Gutenberg Bible/ref> in the British Library. Word-processing software lacks this attention to detail that could be achieved when manually setting type page by page, but professional page layout software like InDesign, Ventura and Serif PagePlus can now achieve this with a fine level of adjustment over which letters to indent into the margin and by how much.
Use
Optical margin alignment is designed to be used for body text, and not for display type, text in tables, orheadline
The headline or heading is the text indicating the content or nature of the article below it, typically by providing a form of brief summary of its contents.
The large type ''front page headline'' did not come into use until the late 19th centur ...
s.
It is often used for block quotes, which benefit from “ hung punctuation.” In such cases, the leading quotation mark is outdented 100% into the margin or paragraph indent, so that subsequent lines of text align with the first character in the quotation. If the first character of the quotation is meant to be styled as a drop cap, then both the opening, hung quotation mark and the following letter are styled as such.
The optimal values used for the outdents is font-dependent. A typeface
A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font.
There are list of type ...
whose capital A, V, W, and Y have vertical sides needs no outdents for these letters, but the capital T and punctuation will still benefit from the use of optical margin alignment.
If text has narrow gutters between columns, table borders, or any straight edge such as an image near to the edge of the text, optical margin alignment should not be used because the proximity of the straight line will break the optical illusion.
This technique is related to and sometimes equated with hanging punctuation
Hanging punctuation or exdentation is a microtypographic technique of typesetting punctuation marks and bullet points, most commonly quotation marks and hyphens, further towards the edge so that they do not disrupt the ‘flow’ of a body of te ...
, though optical margin alignment is not limited to adjusting only punctuation.
Suggested values for optical justification
These values may be suitable for commonserif
In typography, a serif () is a small line or stroke regularly attached to the end of a larger stroke in a letter or symbol within a particular font or family of fonts. A typeface or "font family" making use of serifs is called a serif typeface ...
fed fonts like Times New Roman
Times New Roman is a serif typeface. It was commissioned by the British newspaper ''The Times'' in 1931 and conceived by Stanley Morison, the artistic adviser to the British branch of the printing equipment company Monotype, in collaboration wit ...
, Palatino
Palatino is the name of an old-style serif typeface designed by Hermann Zapf, initially released in 1949 by the Stempel foundry and later by other companies, most notably the Mergenthaler Linotype Company.
Named after the 16th-century Italia ...
, or Garamond
Garamond is a group of many serif typefaces, named for sixteenth-century Parisian engraver Claude Garamond, generally spelled as Garamont in his lifetime. Garamond-style typefaces are popular and particularly often used for book printing and b ...
. Other fonts may need different values.
See also
*Hanging punctuation
Hanging punctuation or exdentation is a microtypographic technique of typesetting punctuation marks and bullet points, most commonly quotation marks and hyphens, further towards the edge so that they do not disrupt the ‘flow’ of a body of te ...
*Microtypography
Microtypography is a range of methods for improving the readability and appearance of text, especially justified text. The methods reduce the appearance of large interword spaces and create edges to the text that appear more even. Microtypograph ...
References
{{reflistExternal links
Micro-typographic Extensions of pdfTEX in Practice
- Hàn Thé Thành, University of Education, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
- (RussellViers.com) Typography