Page:Newspaper writing and editing.djvu/296

 marred or entirely destroyed by having too few or too many units in any part, great skill is necessary in the choice and the arrangement of words to secure as nearly as possible the exact number of units required for a perfect head.

The effect produced by having too many units is shown in the following heads for which 18 units is the normal number in each half of the two-line drop head.

(1)

GOVERNOR NAMES FIRST OF MUNICIPAL REFORMS

(2)

TWO FIRES IN ONE HOUSE INSIDE OF THREE HOURS

When the number of units is less than that required for the best effect, the headline is not so unsatisfactory as when too many units are crowded into it, because the short line is more legible than the long one. In each of the following heads the first half contains only 15 units instead of 18, and as a result there is too much space at the end of each of these halves. Both, however, are much more easily read than the crowded ones given above.

(1)

STATE SECRETARY ON TRIP TO COAST