I usually center, but will left justify or right justify depending on the background. Some of the right justfied stuff looks pretty freaky, if the line length varies greatly.

But I really like the look of centered text. And as long as we stick by the 7 x 7 rule (no more than 7 lines of text with no more than 7 words on each line), we’ve been ok.

Actually, we generally don’t have more than 4 lines of text, but sometimes more than 7 words. I like for the worshippers to not have to search to find thier place, if they reopen thier eyes to grab the next words.

One issue that I haven’t seen addressed here is the practice of centered text on a slide versus left-justified text.

I have always been taught that centered text (especially in song lyrics, and even moreso with new songs) causes people’s eyes to work harder to locate the start of the next line when compared to left-justified text.

I have been successful in placing the text left edge in various parts of the screen, and think it looks cleaner than the staggered edge of centered text.

What do you think?
Don

Firstly, I think that points 4, 7 and 8 should be combined into one about readability. In my opinion and experience, images as backgrounds, even if they have a “plain” section for the lyrics, are distracting from the message of the song. It also makes it hard to pick colours that are readable over the whole image. You were discussing continuity of slides in terms of font size, but it should really be extended to include font face and colour, as well.

In my church, pretty much everyone (young and old) preferred when we switched to white text on black slide, because it was much more readable, and allowed them to focus on the meaning of the words to them with no distraction or image dictating what the meaning should be.

Secondly, you forgot transitions, word art and plug-ins. Nothing is more distracting and annoying in a worship service than the “wavy water reflection” plug-in, the red-to-yellow gradient tapering into the distance of “Superman” style word art, or crazy transitions (checkers, screen flip, diamonds, word zip) between slides. You don’t need them, as, again, it distracts from the song and the lyrics. Just go with a plain cut.

If you’re not convinced about the transitions yet, here’s another reason. Time it and see how long it takes to fully switch slides. It’s usually 1-3 seconds, which means that you have to switch slides while people are still reading the last line, and you still miss the first couple words of the next slide. This is especially evident in fast songs such as “Rising” or “Prince of Peace” that have lots of words. If you just use a straight cut, it happens much quicker, and you can wait until the last word of the slide is sung and still make it for the first word of the next.

Remember, it’s just a slide, not a work of art. The focus is on the words of the song and on worshipping God. It needs to be functional over all else, ie: readable, both within slides and between slides.

My question to your pastor is, what is wrong with the hymnal in print form? Even for people with vision problems, large print volumes are available. Musical notation is much easier to decipher on page than it is far away on a screen. Those who like to sing “with notes” can use the books. Those who don’t want or need notes, and especially those for whom notes are like a foreign language, get to focus on the words themselves and not get lost in all of the extra markings on the screens. This way, everyone wins.

Don’t despair, Judy. Someday the screen will be seen by all as the visual medium that it is, and not a giant, suspended piece of paper!