CSS text-wrap: balance vs text-wrap: pretty

In CSS, the text-wrap: balance and text-wrap: pretty methods are used to optimize how text is wrapped within a block. Here’s a brief explanation of each:

text-wrap: balance

text-wrap: balance tries to make the lines within a block of text equal in length, so it looks more balanced and pretty. This prevents situation where some lines are way shorter than others, and makes it more readable. This is especially useful in responsive design where the width of the text block can change.

Example usage

p {
  text-wrap: balance;
}

text-wrap: pretty

text-wrap: pretty is a more advanced approach that takes into account the layout of the text, not just line lengths but also sentence breaks, word placement and punctuation. The goal is to make the text look pretty. text-wrap: pretty is a concept for now and not supported in browsers yet.

Example usage

p {
  text-wrap: pretty;
}

Comparison text-wrap: balance vs text-wrap: pretty

1. Objective: text-wrap: balance focuses on equalizing line lengths, while text-wrap: pretty emphasizes the overall aesthetic of the text layout.
2. Support status: text-wrap: balance has more browser support, whereas text-wrap: pretty is more of a theoretical concept that may be implemented in the future.
3. Practical application: Currently, using text-wrap: balance is more practical for improving text aesthetics, especially in responsive designs.

See the Pen Untitled by Snippflow (@snippflow) on CodePen.