Desktop Publishing

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White space serves two very important functions: it provides rest for the eye and draws attention to key points on the page.

For instance, graphics, headlines, and photographs, stand out when surrounded by white space. In flyers and advertisements, wide margins focus attention on the text and graphics. In newsletters, ample margins lighten the page by decreasing the graying effect of the text.

In the 1997 Freestone, we used half inch margins all around and a quarter inch of space between the columns.

You can increase or decrease the white space on the page in several other ways:

• Adjust the amount of space between the columns.
• Use flush-left/ragged-right text alignment to create more white space at the end of each line.
• Customize your leading (space between lines)
• Use tracking and kerning to adjust the space between words and letters.
• Add an extra-wide band of space, a drop sink, to the top of the page.
• Cut articles down to a manageable size.