Why is text on cards aligned to center by default? I think the default value for alignment should be start, which is left for most languages and right for RTL languages.
Most typography experts recommend left-aligned text because it’s more comfortable to read, because the eye knows exactly where to jump to read the next line, unlike centered text where they eye needs to search for the beginning of the line. (Note: an experiment published at U.S. Census Bureau website found no difference in reading speed and comprehension between the two designs, but more participants preferred left-aligned text than centered text).
That research considers full text pages, while primary function of Anki cards is to display short bits of information. Even if left were the preferred alignment on mobile for this purpose too (which I, personally, doubt it is), it would make a bad default because of how it would display on desktop.
Moreover, regardless of the default, Anki cards are supposed to be customizable, and the text alignment setting is especially easy to adjust.
I already changed the alignment long ago to start, but recently I started questioning why is center the default anyway. I feel more comfortable reading left (or right) aligned text.
Sometimes I copy a paragraph, and cloze multiple parts of it, making a card that contains much text but asks for certain atomic parts.
In programming, too, it’s good to have monospaced text and clearly know where the block you need is.
However, if we take a long line, 60-100 characters, not everyone can see the words next to each other. People typically see no more than three words, so a column layout allows for faster reading. That’s why all newspapers were designed with narrow columns to promote faster reading.
I’m no expert, but I created a program, or rather a course, to improve reading speed.
Physical flashcards traditionally have centered text. I’m guessing that the centered text makes it easier/quicker to view the text because you’re always looking at the center of the card. Centered text also probably helps to prevent fingers from obscuring the text as physical cards are handled.
I’m guessing that Anki just inherits from this tradition of centered text flashcards.
If Anki were to default to left-justified cards, I think that many people would find it strange.
Either version (left-aligned or centered) will look good for some card types and weird for others.
If you use the Twenty Rules of Formulating Knowledge (which the Anki documentation links to and encourages people to read), rule 4 tells you to keep your cards short and simple.
For short simple cards, centered is preferable because the information appears in the same place on the card (the center) even when length varies a little across cards. Left-aligned may be preferable for multi-line text that word wraps, but many Anki users will not be using text that long.
The other consideration for “which should be the default?” is “which one are people more likely to realize can be changed?”. With centered as the default, people who might prefer left-aligned are likely to seek out a way to change it. But if left-aligned was the default, people are so used to everything being left-aligned that even when centered would be better for their cards it may not cross their minds that it might be possible to change it.
It is very, very easy to change, so I think it makes sense to keep centered as the default. It works well for cards with short information, and it makes it easy to recognize that card alignment is something user-controllable.
That’s a good point, BenJamesBen. Before I read this I was fully in agreement with OP but now that you mentioned that, it makes the most sense to me.
I think that the only reason I expected/preferred left-justified texts is because I’m accustomed to text on a digital screen to begin on the left side. If the writing on my physical flashcards were left-justified it would really bother me lol
