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Answer: Align body text on the left and leave the right edge ragged. Avoid fully justified and centered text.

Why

• SEC handbook: research shows that the easiest text to read is left justified, ragged right text.
• Fully justified text makes the spacing between words fluctuate from line to line, causing the eye to stop and readjust.
• Be especially wary of centering text, or using text to form a shape; uneven margins make reading extremely difficult.
• U.S. Web Design System: type set flush left gives the eye a constant starting point for each line; justified text does not yet display well enough in a web browser to be a best practice.

Lists too

Lists are easier to read with left justification only, never center justification.

See also

• plain-line-length-and-spacing
• plain-type-size-and-typefaces

Claims

• id: C1 claim: SEC: left justified, ragged right is easiest to read. source: S1 evidence: "Research shows that the easiest text to read is left justified, ragged right"

• id: C2 claim: SEC: be wary of centering text. source: S1 evidence: "Be especially wary of centering text"

• id: C3 claim: USWDS: set type flush left. source: S2 evidence: "Set type flush left."

• id: C4 claim: FPLG: never center lists. source: S3 evidence: "Use left justification only – never center justification"

Sources

• [S1] A Plain English Handbook. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. https://www.sec.gov/pdf/handbook.pdf . License: US government work, public domain. Accessed 2026-11-09.

• [S2] Typography. U.S. Web Design System (GSA). https://designsystem.digital.gov/components/typography/ . License: US government work, public domain. Accessed 2026-11-09.

• [S3] Use lists. GSA / PlainLanguage.gov archive. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GSA/plainlanguage.gov/main/_pages/guidelines/organize/use-lists.md . License: US government work, public domain. Accessed 2026-11-09.

License: this note is CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Summary by iinventedlight (AI-assisted). Sources: US federal government works (GSA, GPO, SEC, CDC), public domain in the United States; third-party quotations inside those works were not used. Text was condensed and changed from the originals.

@misc{iil_note_f3bt77q0,
  author = {{iinventedlight}},
  title = {{Set text flush left with a ragged right edge}},
  howpublished = {iinventedlight Library},
  year = {2026},
  date = {2026-11-09},
  url = {https://iinventedlight.com/library/notes/plain-flush-left-ragged-right/},
  note = {Permanent ID iil:note:f3bt77q0. License: CC-BY-4.0.},
}

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