White space in a Web site isn't just about appearances. It is a tool that also helps your text to be easily read by your site visitors. Margins, line spacing, and even the space between characters are all areas where white space is helpful if you want your visitors to actually read the information you've displayed for them. Here's a couple of tips:
1. Consider your page margins. Rarely do you want text or even graphics to stretch across the entire width of a screen. Even with a small 14" screen, readers will have difficulty following lines of text from one side to the other. Set page margins to give your site a border of blank space to help keep your content contained within a section of the screen that your visitors can easily view.
2. Long lines of text are hard to read, especially on a computer screen. Consider putting your text into columns with white space between, or contain the text in smaller segments bordered by white space. Remember that people tend to process words in blocks rather than single words, so block your sentences for them with white space.
3. Watch the proximity between your text and graphics. In most cases, you should always surround your graphics with white space. Even captions for pictures should be spaced far enough away from the graphic so that the words don't "bleed" together with the graphic. This will also help you emphasize objects on your page and give balance to site as a whole.
4. Consider your font spacing between letters. If the letters appear scrunched together, the words will be hard to read. You may have to adjust the spacing between characters to create white space between characters. At the same time, letters that are too far apart will also make it difficult for the eye to put those letters together as a word. Watch for this as well.
5. Think about the spacing between lines. Single spaced lines run together and make it hard to read, so include a small amount of white space between your sentences to add some separation. Again, too much space will interrupt the flow for readers.
If some of these concepts don't make sense to you, try visiting random Web sites and evaluate the pages for these items. You'll soon realize how the right blend of white space between words, sentences and paragraphs creates a smooth and organized reading experience. Remember, the easier the page is to read, the longer your visitors will stay and browse!
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