Justification

Setting text flush to both edges by stretching the spaces within lines. Order bought at the price of even spacing.

Justified text trades the ragged edge for ragged insides: every line is forced to the same width, and the difference is hidden in the word spaces, sometimes gracefully, sometimes as rivers of white running down the column. Newspapers accepted the bargain for density; books refine it with hyphenation and hand care.

The honest rule is that justification needs width and tooling: generous measures, good hyphenation, attention. Narrow justified columns are where the worst spacing in print lives. Our surfaces set ragged right almost everywhere, spacing kept even, edge kept human, because on screens the reader's trust sits in the spacing more than the silhouette.