Novel Paragraph Spacing

This example illustrates the manner in which text in novels and other books are published. Note that each paragraph is indented and there is a single row space between paragraphs rather than the standard double-row spacing.

Be careful with this method of text display in your web pages. It makes reading the text on a monitor difficult for some people.

Although this style of text spacing looks pretty cool, and is made possible with the magic of CSS, something that looks cool is not always the best choice for an effective web site.

It does play a significant role in drawing people's attention to a block of text that you want them to read. As long as that block of text isn't too long winded, you'll get their attention.

"An example case scenario where you might wish to use this type of text formatting is when you are quoting something a person said. In which case you would use the beginning and ending quotation marks as I have done in this paragraph."

Novel Paragraph Spacing and Justification

This example illustrates the same as the example on the left, except it also right justifies the text. Use right justification sparingly in your web design projects. It should never be used as your sole method of text display on your web site, because text in print is read differently than text on the web. This is due to the way the human eye focuses on the monitor's bright, illuminated background vs. a flat white paper background such as used in printed books. Most people would find this example difficult to read on the web.

Have you ever tried to read a book in the sun without wearing sunglasses? Difficult to focus, right? It can also strain your eyes and give you a headache. If your site visitors get a headache every time they visit your site, do you think they will come back often?

An appropriate scenario where you might wish to use right justified text is when you directly quote from a book or newspaper. Another example is if you are offering your site visitors free excerpts from a book you published.

More information regarding text justification can be found here, "Newspaper Column Effect: Justified Page Text".

To illustrate this point further visit the web sites of the well-known newspaper publishers below. None of them use right justified text in the articles on their site.