Drew Ink The year

Measure

Also called Line length, Column width

The length of a line of text, which decides more about whether a page is readable than the choice of face does.

Measure: a drawn diagram with the measure marked in vermilion.
Measure, drawn, Drew Ink. Drawn 2026-09-09.
Measure: a page of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, Aldus 1499, its full lines running long, about seventy characters, and the lines beside the woodcut cut to half that.
A page of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, Aldus 1499, Aldus Manutius, printer; Francesco Griffo, punchcutter; photographed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. CC0 1.0. The page inside its edges, scaled to 1280 px wide. Retrieved 2026-09-10.

Near it

LeadingRagJustificationText faceColumn gridHyphenation

Legibility and readabilityModular scaleRiverTrackingWidow

What it is made of

the common rangeabout 45 to 75 characters per line, 66 being the figure Bringhurst names as ideal for single-column text
too longthe eye loses the line on the return
too shorttoo many hyphens, and a ragged rhythm

Sources