Left align or justify for documents.....

[northernladuk]

Just wondered what people's preference is when creating documents for clients, or in general for that matter.

Never really thought about it before but got a manager at current client that is absolutely insistent that every document is justified to the point of refusing sign off on documentation that isn't. A little over the top but not the issue here..

I can see that a justified doc looks easy on the eye and neat when it initially opens but I find in paragraphs with lots of long words the massive spaces look ridiculous. I just use the standard Align Left.

What about you?

P.S. I did ask my accountant and his response was that this is out of scope of offered services but he can help for a fee......

[oracleslave]

Left aligned works for me.


Where do you stand on full stops in presentations?

[northernladuk]

Left aligned works for me.


Where do you stand on full stops in presentations?

At the end of sentences and statements or bullet points?

[TheFaQQer]

Left justified. It wouldn't bother me if it wasn't (unless it was a book), but that's how I would do it.

[woohoo]

Justified for me. I can appreciate this guys insistence on having a standard format. Presentation is incredibly important even in technical docs.

[d000hg]

Middle.
Everything looks so much nicer.
Don't you agree?

[sal]

What does your contract say? Have you considered the IR35 implications of using the same document formatting as the permies?

P.S. I did ask my accountant and his response was that this is out of scope of offered services but he can help for a fee......

Pay the man, there is no substitution for a professional advise!

I prefer Left align for the same reasons you do. But of course if the ClientCo/Team etc. standard is justified - then i would follow suit.

[Sands of Time]

Life's too short to follow the crowd.

Do what you want to.

Sometimes I put rude words in docs in 'white' just for fun!

naughty word!

[NotAllThere]

Nice discussion here. Summary: fully justified text looks better and is easy to read when done properly. MS Word doesn't do it properly, so often ragged right will look better and be easier to read.

Since documentation should be easy to read, the manager is wrong. Since a document that isn't easy to read takes longer to read, and you're more likely to misread it, he's costing the company money, and should be taken out and shot, forthwith.

It's probably a case of managementus incompetentitus. Incompetent managers have a need to feel in control. They can't control anything of any worth or value, so they have to focus on petty details. I bet he's a clock watcher as well, and takes hours carefully checking all expense forms.

[JRCT]

Left aligned, every time. I hate these long spaces in the middle of lines of text.

Justified is a misnomer, as it rarely can be.