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Text Composition

By Jacci Howard Bear, About.com

text composition example

Even without graphics, the composition of the text on this page creates an interesting layout.

Image © J. James
Definition: A component of desktop publishing and page layout, text composition deals specifically with how fonts are arranged on the page. It involves manipulating text placement and altering the visual appearance of the text.

Some of the tasks that come into play in text composition are choosing text alignment, changing font sizes or making text bold or using italics, deciding how much space to put between lines of text or columns of text, and using typographical embellishments such as drop caps.

Also Known As: type composition | text layout | typographic composition | composing type
Examples:
"In the page layout (sidebar) text composition involved deciding on the size of the initial cap, finetuning the alignment of lines of text along the curve of the W, putting space between the lines to give the page an open feel, and selecting the style of bullet for the bulleted list."

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