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17 September 2020 by Amanda Rush 14 Comments

Read Centered Text is Good for Wedding Invitations and Wine Labels, not for the Web by Deborah Edwards-Onoro

Improve readability of your content by using left-justified text instead of centered text.
It’s easier and faster to read text that doesn’t force the reader to search for the beginning of each line.

This is one of those articles I keep around to share with clients who request centered text.

I figure it’s time to bookmark it somewhere and also today was a good day for it to show up in my Twitter feed because I have a call with a client on this exact subject later today.

Also on:
  • Twitter iconTwitter

Comments

  • Deborah Edwards-Oñoro says: @ twitter.com
    17 September 2020 at 13:29

    Glad it will help you out with your client call today, Amanda!

    Reply
  • Deborah Edwards-Oñoro says: @ twitter.com
    17 September 2020 at 13:29

    Deborah Edwards-Oñoro reposted this read on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • Amanda J. Rush says: @ twitter.com
    17 September 2020 at 13:48

    Thanks for writing it. I’m glad I finally put it somewhere where I can find it.

    Reply
  • Deborah Edwards-Oñoro says: @ twitter.com
    17 September 2020 at 13:51

    Deborah Edwards-Oñoro liked this read on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • social distancing butterfly says: @ twitter.com
    17 September 2020 at 14:29

    I don’t agree. I’ve seen this passed around a few times and wondered about your thoughts. CC @redcrew. A small writeup here: elod.in/centered-and-f…

    Reply
  • Amanda J. Rush says: @ twitter.com
    17 September 2020 at 15:30

    User testing I’ve done tends to support not centering text, so I recommend clients not do it. If that changes, and I start seeing significant numbers of users who are either fine with it or specifically request it, then I’d change that recommendation.

    Reply
  • Amanda J. Rush says: @ twitter.com
    17 September 2020 at 15:30

    Those users can’t be blind screen readers arguing for it though, because in this particular case they’re not the affected users.

    Reply
  • Amanda J. Rush says: @ twitter.com
    17 September 2020 at 15:31

    * blind screen reader users.

    Reply
  • social distancing butterfly says: @ twitter.com
    17 September 2020 at 15:37

    What sort of user testing have you done, if you don’t mind me asking?


    Reply
  • Amanda J. Rush says: @ twitter.com
    17 September 2020 at 15:50

    For this specific recommendation, users with some forms of dyslexia. I’ll see if I can get permission to publish because it wasn’t something I specifically asked for at the time.

    Reply
  • social distancing butterfly says: @ twitter.com
    17 September 2020 at 15:51

    That’s interesting. I’d love to see it!


    Reply
  • Amanda J. Rush says: @ twitter.com
    17 September 2020 at 15:58

    I’ll see what I can do. Also, if you have user data from affected users which contradicts this recommendation, would also love to see that.

    Reply
  • negi4a says: @ twitter.com
    18 September 2020 at 10:54

    negi4a liked this read on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • mkalina says: @ twitter.com
    18 September 2020 at 10:54

    mkalina liked this read on twitter.com.

    Reply

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