Actually these decimal tabs can be aligned on any character you choose like the x in 2×4. They come in four kinds: left, right, centered, and decimal. Typesetting tabs are much more powerful than typewriting tabs. Tabular constructionĬustom horizontal spacing should normally be done with tabs. This means that an en should be used as a blank when lining up numbers (an em for two numbers) for accountants and bookkeepers. Another fact to bear in mind is that lining numbers are normally an en space wide. Fixed spaces remain proportionally consistent. For example, they should always be used for custom hand-spacing, because the spacebar can vary proportionally if you change the point size.
InDesign’s thin space is an eighth of an em, and the hair space is one–twenty-fourth of an em. These spaces are now defined as follows: an em space is the square of the point size an en space is the same height, of course, but half as wide and a thin space varies. Originally these characters were blanks the width of an m, n, and l, respectively.
A quarter space, third space, and sixth space have been added and more.
#Letterspace vs hairspace plus#
InDesign has all four types plus several more. The el space is long gone it is now usually called a thin space. These quads came in three widths: em, en, and el, plus what were called hair spaces. The characters used to do this were blank slugs, called quads, that were a little lower than type-height so they would not print accidentally. When type was composed, it was brought out to a rectangle no matter what the alignment was-right, left, centered, or justified. The problem of predictable spaces has been solved by using some more letterpress solutions. As a result, you never really know how wide a spacebar character will be. But the word spacing still varies line by line.īut aside from justification issues, word spaces are different from paragraph to paragraph whenever size, font, or defaults change. InDesign works hard to minimize this by justifying the entire paragraph as a whole.
#Letterspace vs hairspace software#
Most software gives large variations from line to line. You can see how this left-over space is spread throughout the line in the bottom portion of the graphic. Look at the colored boxes on the first and third line above. What this means is that the spaces on every line are a different width in justified copy. But there are some real problems with this. If the last word does not reach the zone, the length of the zone is divided and added to the spaces in the line (any additional space is divided and added as letterspacing between every letter in the line). When the last word that fits in a line ends in this justification zone, any remaining space in the column width is evenly divided and added to the word spaces in the line. When you are setting a line of justified type, you are dealing with a justification zone. Finally, word spacing varies with every line when setting justified copy. Page layout programs give you very precise control over word spacing. More than this, word spacing is one of the defaults that should be set to your standards. This is one reason why the first thing you usually have to do with secretarial copy is eliminate the double spaces. Because of typewriter-based training, most people accustomed to word processors do most of their horizontal spacing with multiple spaces. This is not a problem with typewriters because they only have one size and one font. This space also changes with point size, of course. First, the word space character in various fonts varies in width. In fact, in type, the space band is often a different size than it was the last time you hit the key. This is because every character in monospaced type is the same width-even the space. On a typewriter, the spacebar is a known quantity. Spaces cause many other problems for people trained in typewriting.
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