Part 1 was all about padding - giving your web page layouts some breathing space. Now let's go one step deeper into "breathing space". If your website has lots of content, paragraphs and paragraphs of text, then this is perfect for you.

Line Spacing or Line Height:The amount of vertical spacing, expressed in points (or pixels), from the baseline of one line of text, to the baseline of the next line.

Line spacing may not be obvious to the reader but it sure does make a difference in how easy it is to read paragraphs online. Basically the rule of thumb is to set your line spacing a minimum of two points higher than the size of the font you're using.

Example 1: The paragraph below is Verdana 12px, with a set line height of 14px. This is the minimum line spacing for legibility.

Example 2: In this paragraph I've added 4 more pixes to the line spacing giving the line more breathing space. Verdana 12px, with a set line spacing of 18px.

The second example is easier to read, there's more room for the eye to focus on one line of text at a time, making large pages of content more consumable and less daunting to look at.

Paragraph Density refers to how dense a paragraph looks on a page. Depending on the font and line spacing combination you choose you will have varying paragraph density. Notice how the first example is denser than the second.

To test your paragraph density click here.