Line Length, or Measure

Type is generally set in a column, and the width of that column is its measure. Although it’s tempting to use the term line length interchangeably with measure, the two don’t always refer to the same thing. For example, when you’re setting type with a ragged right margin—that is, where the lines don’t fill the measure completely—the length of any given line is apt not to equal the measure of the column it’s a part of (see Figure 9.1). If such rag-right text isn’t hyphenated (which is common), most of the lines will set well short of the full measure, as the typesetting program can’t flesh out lines with partial, hyphenated, words. In such a case, the measure of the type may be appropriate, but the net line length can appear too short.

Figure 9.1. The lines here show the margins of this block of type—they indicate its measure. This is a case in which line length and measure are clearly not the same thing.