Line length

A block of text or paragraph has a maximum line length that fits a determined design.

Line length is determined by typographic parameters based on a formal grid and template with several goals in mind: balance and function for fit and readability with a sensitivity to aesthetic style in typography.

[1] Early studies considered line lengths of 59–97 mm (about 57 cpl) optimum for 10-point font.

[7] Screen reading poses additional challenges, making the adoption of traditional line length research to the digital format problematic.

[8] Unlike printed text, writing for digital media must accommodate factors such as glare, flicker, and scrolling/paging.

[10] For user agents that do not support the ch unit a value of 33em can be used as, on average, one character takes up 0.5 of a typographic em.

[3] One proposal advanced that, in order for on-screen text to have the best compromise between reading speed and comprehension, about 55 cpl should be used.

If not available, the first step to calculate the line length for all these methods is the measurement of the LCA at the size that will be ultimately used.

Once the number is located, the top row of the selected column will indicate the ideal line length.