Understanding Justification

In typography, justification refers to the way in which text is changed in relation to the margins in which it is placed. There are several types of justification:

• Left-justification. All lines in the paragraph butt up against the left text margin. No extra spaces are added to the line.
• Center-justification. All lines in a paragraph are centered between the left and right text margins. No extra spaces are added to the line.
• Right-justification. All lines in a paragraph butt up against the right text margin. No extra spaces are added to the line.
• Fill-justification. All lines in a paragraph are expanded so they butt up against both the left and right text margins. Space is added, between words and characters, as necessary to fill out the line.

In Word, these four justification types are referred to as paragraph alignments. Thus, a paragraph can be left, center, or right aligned. It can also be justified, which is the same as fill-justification.