Composition
Line endings, paragraph shape, white-space patterns, hyphenation, and page-level rhythm.
Definitions, examples, judgment, and implementation.
Widows & Orphans
A widow or orphan is an isolated line of a paragraph separated from the lines it belongs with at the top or bottom of a column or page.
WIDOWORPHANShort Last Lines
A short last line is a paragraph ending whose occupied width is small enough to look weak, ambiguous, or visually detached.
SHORT_LINERivers of White Space
A river is a conspicuous vertical or diagonal path formed by aligned word spaces across neighboring lines.
RIVERHyphenation Ladders
A hyphenation ladder is a run of consecutive lines ending in hyphens beyond the publication’s tolerated limit.
HYPHENATIONBad Rag
Rag describes the changing edge of unjustified text; a bad rag contains distracting shapes, abrupt steps, or accidental patterns.
BAD_RAGVertical Rhythm
Vertical rhythm is the repeated spacing pattern created by leading, paragraph spacing, baselines, and aligned text structures across a layout.
RHYTHMVERTICAL_RHYTHM