[IxDA Discuss] Req: Reference on readability of centered vs left-justified text

[Elizabeth Buie]

At 10:42 PM -0400 8/14/07, Bryan Minihan wrote:
>I agree with you and prefer right-aligned text when labels of highly
>differing lengths.  

As the HFES-200 committee discussed when we were commenting on the ISO 9241 
position on this topic, it's also a matter of what the task is. 

If people are looking for specific fields, what they need to do quickly is 
to find the field of interest.  This is aided by left-aligned labels, as 
it is easiest to scan the list and pick out the one(s) of interest.

If people are entering information into most or all fields, what they need 
to do quickly is to determine the meaning of the next field.  This is aided 
by right-aligned labels, as it is easiest to look to the left of the current 
field and see what label is attached to it.

The ISO standard says that under most conditions the labels should be right 
aligned; however, if they have more or less the same length, they *may* be 
left aligned.

Elizabeth