Optical margin alignment: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 19:39, 16 June 2021

Revision as of 13:20, 12 September 2023

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'''Optical margin alignment''' [[Indentation (typesetting)|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[[Initial|drop Capitalscapitals]] were indented slightly into the margin, as can be seen in the pages of the [[Gutenberg Bible]]<ref>[http://www.bl.uk/treasures/gutenberg/gutenbergstexts.html 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 [[Adobe InDesign|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 ==

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This technique is related to and sometimes equated with [[hanging punctuation]], though optical margin alignment is not limited to adjusting only punctuation.

=== Suggested values for optical justification ===

These values may be suitable for common [[serif]]fed fonts like [[Times New Roman]], [[Palatino]], or [[Garamond]]. Other fonts may need different values.

{| class="wikitable"