# Magazine Columns **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 9, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazine-columns/180708 "2003-06-09T20:25:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/67e7ee/32.png) [@Nim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nim)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazine-columns/180708/1 "2003-06-09T20:25:21Z")
How do they get their columns so straight? It would be a little tricky even with a fixed-width font. But it looks more like a Times New Roman than a Fixedsys or Courier, which never aligns straight for me. And I’ve counted the characters, including spaces, and they vary from sentence to sentence. So it’s definitely not monospaced. Am I missing something obvious here? ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazine-columns/180708/2 "2003-06-09T20:30:33Z")
They adjust the width of the spaces between the characters. ---
**Author:** ![CJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@CJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJo)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazine-columns/180708/3 "2003-06-09T20:30:50Z")
actually with some computer programs there is a button that allows you to allign the text in your collumns. the button look something like this: * * * * * * * * * hope this helped some… CJo ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazine-columns/180708/4 "2003-06-09T20:40:07Z")
The spaces between the characters and the words are adjusted to the text lines up on either side. Your word processing program has a function to do this for you, as well. In something with relatively skinny columns, such as a newspaper, you sometimes end up with a single word stretched very thinly accross a single line, because the next word is too big to fit. That’s kinda funny. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazine-columns/180708/5 "2003-06-09T20:43:54Z")
There is also a lot of finessing. At my magazine, I note when columns’ words are too spread-apart or too tight, and the production manager has to go in and re-kern them (I think that’s the right word). Some of our columns are also “rag-right,” where the right-hand side is, well, ragged. Problem there is you can’t break a word to continue on the next line, which leads us into _other_ “need to fiddle with this” problems. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazine-columns/180708/6 "2003-06-09T20:44:01Z")
It’s called justifying. Here’s an article from [fonts.com](http://www.fonts.com/fontent/fontent_home.asp?nCo=AFMT&con=fyti_justifiedtype) that talks about the process. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazine-columns/180708/7 "2003-06-09T20:44:34Z")
Is that the justify function, **CJo**? I’m at a magazine here, anyway, and I don’t know the name of the trick, but what we use is a “soft return,” which also changes the spacing so that the words will fill up the entire space in the column. I hope that makes sense, and I hope I’m answering what you’re asking. I guess the width isn’t fixed: you can futz with it if the column is going too long, or if you have an awkward break. [It’s considered aesthetically bad to leave a line with only one word, or sometimes two short words, in it. It’s called a “widow.” That’s why you do the aforementioned trick; to get rid of them.] ---
**Author:** ![CJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@CJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJo)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2003, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magazine-columns/180708/8 "2003-06-09T20:52:12Z")
please don’t hurt meeee!!! ☹ thats the function i used when i was working on the NYTimes. microsoft word is my prosessor…others might have diffrent ones…