Rules or Lines

[Tom Johnson <tjohnson -at- GRANDTRAVERSE -dot- COM>]

For those of you debating whether or not to use "lines" to divide
sections of text, I have one bit of information and an opinion.

First, a better choice or terminology is rules instead of lines. A line
can be a line of text or a graphic element.

***************************************
*        Examples                     *
*                                     *
*  This is a line of text.            *
*                                     *
*  _________________ This is a rule.  *
*                                     *
***************************************

Using the word rule in this context is probably less ambiguous. (By the
way, I learned that in college.)

Now my opinion about rules. Use rules to emphasize (warnings, examples)
and use them sparingly. If you emphasize between every section of a
document, the emphasis is diluted to the point where it becomes useless
and a distraction. Rules add clutter to the page that your mind has to
analyze. White space is a better choice, it is less taxing and gives
your mind a bit of a rest as you read.

I believe there is a lot of truth in the saying, "less is more."

Tom Johnson
tjohnson -at- grandtraverse -dot- com

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