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.
The image above contains the example labelled | (1) |. It is constructed of a single deck with a drop-line head of two parts with slightly expanded inter-word spacing. Both parts are in upper-case text. The first line is of 15 units and says | STATE SECRETARY |. The second line is of 15½ units and says | ON TRIP TO COAST |. The whole drop-line head says | STATE SECRETARY ON TRIP TO COAST |.
The image above contains the example labelled | (2) |. It is also constructed of a single deck with a drop-line head of two parts with slightly expanded inter-word spacing. Both parts are in upper-case text. The first line is of 15 units and says | WEISS REASSURES |. The second line is of 14 units and says | BUSINESS WORLD |. The whole drop-line head says | WEISS REASSURES BUSINESS WORLD |.
That much better results are produced by having each half contain more nearly the required number of units is shown by comparing the next two heads with those preceding.
The image above contains two examples. The first one is labelled | (1) | and is again constructed of a drop-line head in two parts but now there is less space between the end of the first line and the right-hand column rule and before the start of the second line and the left-hand column rule. The first line is of 18 units and says | STORY OF DYING MAN |. The second line is also of 18 units and says | REOPENS GRAFT CASE |. The whole drop-line head says | STORY OF DYING MAN REOPENS GRAFT CASE |.
The second example is labelled | (2) |. It is also constructed of a drop-line head in two parts. Like the example above there is less space between the end of the first line and the right-hand column rule and before the start of the second line and the left-hand column rule. The first line is of 18½ units and says | MAY LOSE EXTRA PAY |. The second line is of 17½ units and says | FOR NIGHT CAR RUNS |. The whole drop-line head says | MAY LOSE EXTRA PAY FOR NIGHT CAR RUNS |.
In headline writing a number of points must be borne in mind. It should be remembered, however, that these are not hard and fast rules but general principles based on newspaper practice.