I realized i'm totally stuck on right justified journaling... alot of of my latest layouts use it -- which is kinda odd seeing how it isn't the norm, but for some reason i keep doing it over and over. yikes! i just seem drawn to it even though i think most folks find it harder to read.

do you ever right justify? do you think its hard to read? would love to hear what you think.

just my two cents: right justified lines are "just right" sometimes! (sorry, couldn't resist)

While I wouldn't want to read a long paragraph or page that was not left justified or centered, for short paragraphs in certain spots on a page layout (especially near the right edge of a page), I agree that it can be just the touch. You can also ensure that a right justified journalling block is easy enough to read by choosing a very clean font and, if necessary, increasing the line spacing just a bit.

cheers! beth

After reading "The Non-Designers Design Book" by Robin Williams now, I do right justify. The guidelines in the book are that as long as there is a "hard" edge for the justification to be anchored to then it's a good choice in alignment. Since reading that, I have broken out of my left and center justification and sometimes (when I follow the rules) that right justification just looks a lot better.

I agree with IslandMom in that if I have the edge of a journaling block/paper or the edge of the layout, I will right justify my text. I more rarely center my journaling, but have done so a couple time when everything else on my layout was centered. I do not ever center or right justify my po-etry as that brings more attention to the format than the content, but since my writing is only a portion of a whole on a layout, the rules are different. At least for me.

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According to my typography teacher, readability is best with left justification, harder with right justification, and worst with centered text.

But the entire point of design principles is that you should break them when it looks better! If your grid works better with some right justified type, then go for it. But if it's all you're doing, might be fun to break out of your comfort zone. You might like what happens!

Also, decreasing readability might be good if you want to draw more attention to your pictures; maybe your text will be the first thing you see when looking if it's left justified but not if it's right. No rules are absolute!

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some really interesting discussion! i just did a layout using left justified (had to force myself). in looking at my gallery, i see a trend... my journaling tends to be on the right side of the page... and i think i just naturally go for right justified... but i thought kindarana's comments were really interesting so i tried forcing myself to use left justified. i don't think i've ever used centered.