Text Alignment

Left Alignment

A left alignment gives text a straight left margin, but the right margin is uneven (or "ragged right").

Left aligned text has equal spaces between words, but uneven line endings.

Left alignment gives text a more casual look, with more white space than justified text (the white space coming on the right side).

Right Alignment

A right alignment has a straight right margin, but a ragged left margin.

As with left alignment, the spaces between words are equal.

Right alignment should be used sparingly, because it's difficult to read (the eye has trouble finding the beginning of the next line, which is never in the same place).

Right alignment makes it especially difficult to determine when a new paragraph begins.

Centered Text

Centering leaves the same amount of space between the text and the right and left margins. Don't center body text. Reserve centering for headlines, lists whose lines are only a few words long, and other situations in which the centering doesn't detract from readability.

Justified Text

Justification makes both right and left margins straight--a square look. It accomplishes this by varying the spaces between words. One line may have small spaces between words, while the next line has much larger spaces between words. By justifying text, you can get more words on a page than if you use right or left alignment.