Adjust this paragraph:
Call me Ishmael. Some years ago--never mind how long precisely --having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen, and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off--then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.
The value you're changing is called leading.
Leading is the distance between lines of type. Sometimes this is called line spacing on computers.
The goal in setting textual type is to allow for easy, prolonged reading. Text that is set too tightly causes vertical movement of the eyes and a reader can easily lose their place. Type that is set too loosely creates a striped pattern that distracts the reader from the material.
as opposed to headlinesAdjust the leading to improve legibility of the paragraph.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.
Where does leading come from?
Space between lines of writing has existed for as long as writing has, but a consistent space between lines becomes a major part of type design when the printing press is invented. Around 1440 AD, Gutenberg begins the era of hand typesetting by introducing the moveable type press to Europe.
Movable type was made out of lead, which was strong enough to withstand the needs of printing, but could be melted down and recast into different letters as needed.
To separate lines of text, typesetters used strips of lead of varying heights, calling it leading. This is why the term is pronounced "led-ing" instead of "leed-ing".
Adjust the two values below to improve legibility of the paragraph.
Try different values to see how one setting can effect legibility.
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.