Signing, terms and clauses / Terms and conditions page
A terms page set in dense small type that stays readable
The block of standard terms, usually on the reverse or at the end, which has to fit in a fixed space without becoming unreadable.
Why this block is harder than it looks
Terms are long, they must be present in full, and the space allotted to them is usually one page decided before anyone counted the words. The universal response is to shrink the type until it fits, which is how documents end up with 6pt justified text in a single full-width column. That is unreadable for two separate reasons: the size, and the line length. A full-width line at 6pt is around 160 characters, roughly three times the length at which the eye reliably finds the start of the next line.
The decisions that make it work
Reasons rather than a description of the code. Each of these is a choice that has a wrong answer, and the wrong answer is usually the default.
- Fix the minimum size first and let the page count follow. 7.5pt is about the floor for a document that will be read, and 8pt is better.
- Set the terms in two or three columns. Columns fix the line length problem and let you keep the type size, which is the trade that actually helps.
- Do not justify. Justified text in a narrow column at small size produces rivers of white, and hyphenating to fix that inserts breaks into defined terms.
- Number the clauses and keep the numbers in a hanging indent, so a reader following a cross-reference can scan the numbers down the left edge.
- Set column-fill: auto so the last column is short rather than balancing three columns into three equally awkward fragments.
- Keep a clause with its heading. A heading at the foot of a column with its clause in the next column is the small-print equivalent of an orphaned signature.
The fragment
Markup and the CSS it needs, and nothing else. It expects a document that already has a page rule and a base stylesheet, so paste it into one rather than opening it on its own.
<section class="terms">
<h2>Terms and conditions</h2>
<ol>
<li><h3>Definitions</h3>
<p>In these terms, Supplier means the party issuing this document.</p></li>
<li><h3>Payment</h3>
<p>Invoices are payable within the period stated on the invoice.</p></li>
</ol>
</section>
<style>
.terms {
columns: 3;
column-gap: 8mm;
column-fill: auto; /* short last column, not three ragged ones */
font-size: 8pt;
line-height: 1.4;
text-align: left; /* never justify at this size */
hyphens: none;
}
.terms h2 { column-span: all; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0 0 6pt; }
.terms ol { margin: 0; padding-left: 14pt; }
.terms li { break-inside: avoid; margin-bottom: 5pt; }
.terms h3 {
break-after: avoid; /* a heading never ends a column */
font-size: 8pt;
margin: 0 0 1pt;
}
.terms p { margin: 0; }
</style>What breaks when it is built the obvious way
Reducing the font size until the terms fit on one page. It is the obvious lever and it is the wrong one, because the constraint that actually broke was line length. Going to two or three columns at the same size usually recovers more space than a point of type size, and it improves the reading rather than damaging it.
How to prove it survived pagination
Print at actual size and read a clause in the middle of the third column. If your eye lands on the wrong line coming back from the right edge, the measure is too long regardless of the type size. Then confirm no heading is sitting at the foot of a column.
Where it sits in a finished document
This page is one block. The document it belongs to has a page rule, a base stylesheet, a header and everything else around it, and repeating all of that here would make thirty pages that say the same thing. The services agreement template is a complete file with this block already in it, so take that and change the fragment rather than assembling one from parts. The property doing most of the work here is covered on its own page, with the support caveats that belong there rather than here.
Frequently asked
Will this fragment work on its own?
Not as a whole document. It has no page rule, no margins and no base type, because those belong to the document rather than to the block, and duplicating them in every fragment would mean thirty copies to keep in step. Paste it into a template that already has them.
Why does it look right in a browser and wrong in the PDF?
Because a browser window is one continuous surface and a document is a stack of fixed rectangles. Nothing in a scrolling view exercises a page boundary, so every break rule in the fragment is inert until the content is paginated. Render the real thing with enough content to cross two or three boundaries, then look.
Do I need a special option on the render request for this?
No. Everything on this page is CSS and markup, which is your side of the boundary. What the render has to give you is a real page size with real margins, and after that the layout is decided by the stylesheet.
Other parts of a document
The blocks that sit next to this one, and one from the next group along so you are not sealed inside a single kind of problem.
Numbered and sub-numbered clauses that renumber themselves
Hierarchical clause numbering, where 4.2.1 has to stay correct through every edit and has to be findable from a cross-reference elsewhere in the document.
Per-page initials boxes and date fields sized for handwriting
Small boxes for a signatory to initial each page or enter a date by hand, used where every page has to be shown to have been seen.
A company registration footer that repeats on every page
Registered company name, number, registered office and any regulatory statement, set small at the foot of every page because it has to be on every page.
A table of contents with page numbers and leader dots
A list of headings with the page each one starts on, which cannot be written by hand because the page numbers do not exist until the document has been laid out.
Services agreement, as a complete file
The whole document with this block already in place, ready to copy and change.
column-count in paged output
The property carrying the weight here, with its real support status.
Every part of a document
The full list, grouped by the kind of problem the block poses.
Paste the fragment into the playground inside a page rule and see what it does at a real page size. That is the only way any of this gets confirmed.