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Design

Posted by Benjamin Weiser
Benjamin Weiser
10,956 Points

How Important Is Vertical Rhythm?

I seem to have a difficult time wrapping my head around how to achieve vertical rhythm on a responsive page using css after delving into the typography course.

This led me to start thinking.

How common is the practice of achieving vertical rhythm site-wide?

I've been using Wordpress on and off for about 5 years and have created quite a few sites using the iThemes Builder framework.

I've never been introduced to this particular concept before.

Is this something that only the best web sites do or is this a common practice for just about all sites on the web?

Is it always bad practice to just sort of "wing it" when adjusting margins around headings, and paragraphs?

2 Answers

Dylan Macnab
Dylan Macnab
24,861 Points
Dylan Macnab
Dylan Macnab
24,861 Points

I'm no expert in this area but I have a few thoughts and insights I've heard from other web designers.

  1. Achieving site wide vertical rhythm on a responsive site is probably not going to happen, at least not perfectly. We design in a very fluid world on the web and it's just not always possible or worth your time to obsess over the details of vertical rhythm.

  2. Being consistent, as best you can, is probably most important.

  3. Experiment with the vertical rhythm, line heights, spacing etc. Start with what seems to make the most sense mathematically and then let your eye be the judge if it's not looking right to you.

  4. I don't think all sites use vertical rhythm effectively, however, being consistent with vertical rhythm helps your content be more easy to read and scan. Our brains like to find easy, recognizable patterns for easy scanning.

Just my 2 cents on the subject. Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks

Benjamin Weiser
Benjamin Weiser
10,956 Points
Benjamin Weiser
Benjamin Weiser
10,956 Points

When you say consistency you're basically saying use the same margins for headers and p's? Thanks Dylan