The oblique stroke (/) is an often-utilized mark used in various forms of writing. When printed, it denotes line breaks or the end of paragraphs or sections; when written by hand, it signifies direction changes or joins two or more words together.
Oblique stroke is a term widely used within the publishing industry to refer to diagonal lines used between pieces of text on a page, often creating more visually exciting page layouts while drawing attention to particular text pieces or creating movement or energy on pages. Oblique strokes may also develop a sense of movement on a page by visually connecting two text blocks on an otherwise static page layout.
The oblique stroke is also used in bibliographic references to indicate where one volume or page ends and another begins (e.g., “vol. 3, p. 45” or “pp 45-46”).
Oblique strokes mark as a division date back to the dawn of printing, first used by Johannes Gutenberg of Germany in the 1470s as part of his printers’ toolbox and quickly adopted by subsequent printers and scribes as an indication of direction changes within texts.
Oblique Stroke is an invaluable asset in book and publishing, offering more efficient and accurate ways of producing pages with consistent baselines for professional-looking books and publications. Furthermore, Oblique Stroke helps create more uniform margins on pages as well as making sure text alignment is correct – overall, making Oblique Stroke an indispensable part of publishing processes and a highly recommended tool!
