The A to Z of #AffinityPublisher continues with ...

J is for Justification

What is Justification?

No, it's not justifying your excellent choice of Affinity Publisher as your layout design app. Come on, that's a no-brainer! 😉

In typesetting and page layout terms justification is setting the flow of text relative to other elements on the page, including text frames, columns, table cells and more.

Justification is achieved by Affinity Publisher varying the size of the word spaces on the line, or in the paragraph as a whole, to attempt to achieve even word and letter spacing. At times, a word and letter spacing that looks even is the best outcome.

Why Use Justification?

Justified text is regarded as easier to read.

Ease of reading is why most books and newspapers justify text on a paragraph by paragraph basis.

Types of Justification

• Left Justified: The text content is aligned to the left margin or gutter

• Right Justified: The text content is aligned to the right margin or gutter

• Centre Justified: The text is aligned to the centre of its container with an even gap on the side of each line

• Fully Justified: The text is aligned flush to both the left and right margin or gutter

Making it Easy

When it comes to working with justification don't forget the power of the Text Style.

Paragraph Styles can include justification options together with all the other supported elements of formatting. Creating a Paragraph Style means you can tweak the options inside the style and make wholesale changes quickly.

There are also dedicated options in Styles for Optical Alignment, Hyphenation, Word Spacing and Letter Spacing.

Be Careful

Applying justification can lead to typographic anomalies such as large spaces appearing between individual words. Even worse, "rivers" of white can appear when the gaps between words inadvertently line up in sequential rows.

Use all the options Affinity Publisher provides to create optimal text adjustments for a perfect layout.