Newspaper Writing and Editing

by Willard Grosvenor Bleyer

The second deck is a pyramid head of three parts. It is in mixed-case displayed in a smaller font than that used in the deck above. Its three parts say | Baldwin Machine Stays Aloft Two Hours | and is Accepted by Signal Corps as | the Most Proficient Of All. | Together the lines of the two decks says | AIRSHIP STANDS FINAL TEST | Baldwin Machine Stays Aloft Two Hours and is Accepted by Signal Corps as the Most Proficient Of All.”

The second example in the image is labelled | (4) | and again is constructed of two decks, each separated by a short horizontal rule. The first deck is a drop-line head in upper-case and displayed in a font about the same size as that used in the example above. Its two lines say | EMPLOYERS’ LIABILITY | UPHELD BY OHIO COURT |.

The second deck is a pyramid head of three parts. It is in mixed-case displayed in a smaller font than that used in the deck above it. The three lines of the head say | Act Providing for Benefits in Case of | Death or Injury Is Declared | to Be Constitutional. | Together the lines of the two decks says | EMPLOYERS’ LIABILITY UPHELD BY OHIO COURT | Act Providing for Benefits in Case of Death or Injury Is Declared to Be Constitutional. |

Practically every symmetrical arrangement of the four forms of heads can be found in various newspapers, but the principles underlying the writing of any of the combinations are the same.

Type Limits of Heads. The typographical limitations are the most important considerations governing the writing of headlines. These limitations are determined by the size of type and the form of each deck of the head. The possible variation in the parts of the first deck is not more than a letter or two from the normal form. So small is the variation possible within the column width that the size of the letters used has to be considered. Thus the letters “M” and “W” are one and one-half times the size of all the other letters except “I,” which is only one-half as large as the others. In the counting of unit letters in a headline, the writer must consider “M” and “W” as one and one-half units each, and the letter “I” and the figure “1” as half a unit each. Each space between words is counted as one unit. Since the form and symmetry of a head are 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.

The image above contains two examples of heads with too many units on a line. The effect that creates is made worse because the spacing between words has been reduced in order to fit all the words to a line.

Example | (1) | is constructed of a single deck with a drop-line head of two parts, each line spanning the full width between column rules. The first line consists of 20 units and says | GOVERNOR NAMES FIRST |. The second line also consists of 20 units and says | OF MUNICIPAL REFORMS |. Together the two parts of the drop-line head says | GOVERNOR NAMES FIRST OF MUNICIPAL REFORMS |.

Example | (2) | is also constructed of a single deck with a drop-line head of two parts, each line spanning the full width between column rules. The first line consists of 21½ units and says | TWO FIRES IN ONE HOUSE |. The second line consists of 20 units and says | INSIDE OF THREE HOURS |. Together the two parts of the drop-line head says | TWO FIRES IN ONE HOUSE INSIDE OF THREE HOURS |.