Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Wonderful wonderful whitespace

clipped from www.alistapart.com

Whitespace is not so much a luxury as it is a prerequisite. Every pixel of whitespace around the text can help the reader stay focused instead of wandering off. A readers’ eyes must repeatedly approach the edge of the text block; a sidebar that is set too close to the text—or one that is brighter or darker in color—will compete with her on every line. Even a small increase in padding between text and sidebar (especially if the sidebar includes more text) can make for a more restful page, and reinforce the reader’s own sense of solitude.

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This comes from a great article by Mandy Brown In Defense of Readers by Mandy Brown on A List Apart


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Posted by IMR editor at 9:07 AM

2 comments:

Dave J. said...

I've been making a bunch of literature-stuff lately, and white-space seems to be the thing that gets stomped over the quickest. Its hard to see its edges, or its message. And its even harder to see where it's supposed to go.

March 11, 2009 9:25 PM
Catherina said...

It's all a bit of a balancing act, though, I think - too much of the white space can be a bit drowning... if you get my drift.

April 3, 2009 10:28 AM

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