Ruled paper is writing paper

Paper

Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....

 that typically consists of horizontal lines meant to separate lines of hand-written text, and vertical lines meant to provide margin

Margin (typography)

In typography, a margin is the space that surrounds the content of a page. The margin helps to define where a line of text begins and ends. When a page is justified the text is spread out to be flush with the left and right margins...

s or to act as tab stop

Tab stop

A tab stop on a typewriter is a location where the carriage movement is halted by mechanical gears. Tab stops are set manually, and pressing the tab key causes the carriage to go to the next tab stop...

s.

A popular alternative to lined paper is graph paper

Graph paper

Graph paper, graphing paper, grid paper or millimeter paper is writing paper that is printed with fine lines making up a regular grid. The lines are often used as guides for plotting mathematical functions or experimental data and drawing diagrams. It is commonly found in mathematics and...

 (or, grid paper). It is a grid layout in which horizontal and vertical lines are equally spaced, dividing the page into squares.

Generic types

There are many types of ruled paper. Lines are drawn on paper according to the needs of the users. Some types of ruled paper are for calligraphy

Calligraphy

Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...

, making graphs, or writing music, whereas others are for teaching students how to write in a particular language or script, etc.

The type of ruling is not typically tied to any particular paper size

Paper size

Many paper size standards conventions have existed at different times and in different countries. Today there is one widespread international ISO standard and a localised standard used in North America . The paper sizes affect writing paper, stationery, cards, and some printed documents...

. Instead, it is usually determined by the purpose, style of handwriting, and/or the language being written.

Lines on ruled paper are typically used as guidelines to help the user keep their writing or drawing consistent with a predetermined set of rules. Some generic categories of lined paper are as follows:

• Notebook paper (or Writing paper, Filler paper) is typically used for handwriting. It is produced in different layouts and sizes. The specific size and layout is determined by the need or region. The layout usually consists of evenly-spaced horizontal lines with vertical lines drawn to indicate [margin]s, the middle of the page, or sections of a line. The number of vertical lines varies by region. (see below)
• Graph paper is used for drafting, drawing, etc.
  • Quadrille ruled paper (colloquially, "quad paper") has horizontal and vertical lines which are both evenly-spaced over the entire page, creating a grid of squares. These evenly-spaced squares help to keep things lined up. In addition to creating graphs and diagrams, students often use graph paper to help keep numbers in columns when doing manual operations such as long division or long multiplication.
  • Semi-log ruled paper is similar to quadrille ruled, except the horizontal lines are drawn according to the logarithmic scale, and so the lines are not evenly spaced.
  • log-log ruled paper is similar to quadrille ruled, except that both the horizontal and vertical lines are drawn according to the logarithmic scale
    Logarithmic scale
    A logarithmic scale is a scale of measurement using the logarithm of a physical quantity instead of the quantity itself.A simple example is a chart whose vertical axis increments are labeled 1, 10, 100, 1000, instead of 1, 2, 3, 4...
    
    .
• Music manuscript paper is used when handwriting music. The most basic page is laid out with a series of five-line staves, each spanning the width of the page. Any musical notation
  Musical notation
  Music notation or musical notation is any system that represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols.-History:...
  
   (clefs, bars, notes, etc.) may be written in as desired by the artist. As notebook paper is to the written word, music manuscript paper is to the written score.

France

In France, in order to foster handwriting discipline, the type of ruling used on paper in schools is determined by the French government: Heavy horizontal lines are drawn 8 mm (appx. 5/16 in) apart, with three lighter lines 2 mm (appx. 5/64 in) apart in between each pair of heavy lines. Heavy vertical lines are drawn, spaced 8 mm (appx. 5/16 in) apart, beginning 16 mm (appx. 5/8 in) from the left-hand edge of the page.

This is also known as Seyès Ruling.

New Zealand

In 1984, Standards New Zealand instituted an official standard for school stationery

New Zealand standard for school stationery

The New Zealand standard for school stationery was established in 1984 by the 'Standards Association Ltd', New Zealand's national standards body. It specifies various types of stationery to ensure that different manufacturers produce compatible products of suitable quality...

 which specified standards for ruled and unruled paper.

United States

In the United States, ruled paper is available in a variety of semi-standardized formats:

• Wide ruled (or Legal ruled) paper has 11/32 in (8.7 mm) spacing between horizontal lines, with a vertical margin drawn about 1-1/4 in (31.75 mm) from the left-hand edge of the page. It is commonly used by American children in grade school, as well as by those with larger handwriting.
• Medium ruled (or College ruled) paper has 9/32 in (7.1 mm) spacing between horizontal lines, with a vertical margin drawn about 1-1/4 in (31.75 mm) from the left-hand edge of the page. Its use is very common in the United States.
• Narrow ruled paper has 1/4 in (6.35 mm) spacing between ruling lines, and is used by those with smaller handwriting or to fit more lines per page.
• Gregg ruled paper has ruling specialized for stenography. It has 11/32 in (8.7 mm) spacing between ruling lines, with a single margin drawn down the center of the page.
• Pittman ruled paper has ruling specialized for stenography. It has 1/2 in (12.7 mm)spacing between ruling lines.
• Manuscript ruled paper is used to teach young children how to write. A blank sheet consists of rows of three lines (the space between them depends on the age group being taught) with the middle line in each three-line set being dotted. The D'Nealian writing style
  D'Nealian
  D'Nealian is a style of writing and teaching cursive and print handwriting for English . It was designed to ease the learning of cursive and print handwriting. It was developed by Donald Thurber, who developed the system while teaching in a primary school, and was first introduced in 1978...
  
   is a well-known teaching method that makes use of this type of paper ruling. Another educational institution, A Beka Book, utilizes this ruling along with a house metaphor (upstairs, downstairs, and basement) to help young children learn where parts of each letter should be written. The usage is similar in concept to the use of the horizontal lines on French Seyès rule paper.

External links

• Printable Lined Paper is a tool which can create ruled(lined) paper which you can print for free.
• Incompetech can generate PDF files of graph and ruled paper with customizable spacing and sizes.
• writingpaper.py is a Python script that can create French-ruled paper without the vertical lines.