Page margin

Also called: page margin

Page margins are the white space around the printed part of a page. The size of this determines the page layout and thus the appearance of a page and the legibility of the text.

Page margins also have a practical use: pages can be held or turned without having to touch the printed area. This also applies during the printing process, although separate bleed margins are often used during print production and are cut off later.

Certain parts of a page can be placed outside the typesetting area (and in the page margin area). This applies, for example, to fixed items such as headers, footers and page numbers. Photos and other images sometimes extend to the edge of the page. This is called bleed.

Names of page margins

The four margins around a page each have their own designation:

• The top margin or header margin, at the top of the page
• The bottom margin or foot margin, at the bottom of the page
• The spine margin, in bound printing the side where the page is bound
• The side margin or outer margin, the other side(s) of the page

These margins are also referred to as head white, tail white/foot white, back white and side white.