Reading speed and text production A note on right-justification techniques

Three computer text-processing techniques were compared. The first was typescript without right justification. The other two involved right-justified text. The first (and the most common) right-justification technique involved calculating the space from the right margin to the end of a line of text in blank-character units and distributing the space in whole-character units between the words on that line. The second right-justification technique distributed the extra space at the end of a line proportionally both between and within the words forming the line. Each subject read the same passage prepared with one of the techniques and answered a short questionnaire concerning the material in the passage. Measurements of reading time showed that the variable-spacing right-justification technique improved reading speed in relation both to the text with an unjustified right margin and to the text with the right-justified margin produced by blank insertion.