Hyphenation and Paragraph Priority:

  1. Avoid hyphenating across a page/column break.
  2. Avoid beginning new pages with the last line (or partial line) of a paragraph.

Try to create:

  • If text is left-aligned: graceful ragged right edges.
  • If text is justified: an even color to paragraphs and pages.

Try to avoid:

  • Last lines of a paragraph of just a word or two, left over from their paragraph.
  • If text is justified: “Rivers,” large gaps of word spacing.
  • Multiple hyphens in a row, or many per paragraph, sometimes called “pig bristles.”