# Typesetting Guidelines

# Intro

You should generally use the Style Editor when editing the subtitles.

[![image9.png](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org//uploads/images/gallery/2025-06/scaled-1680-/0TH724A8IYQlMAs0-image9.png)](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org//uploads/images/gallery/2025-06/0TH724A8IYQlMAs0-image9.png)

<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">This can be accessed by clicking on the </span>****S****<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> icon in the toolbar or by clicking </span>`<span class="editor-theme-code">Edit</span>`<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> next to the style dropdown.</span>

# Typeface Style Guide

These are the preferred settings for subtitle typefacing.

<p class="callout info"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">This is in the situation of a </span>**1080p**<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> video.</span></p>

#### HLR Standards

These are guidelines to be followed by HoloResort Translations subbers.

<table id="bkmrk-font-familynoto-sans"><colgroup><col></col><col></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td>##### **Font Family**

</td><td>[**Noto Sans Japanese (Noto Sans JP)**](#bkmrk-font-familynoto-sans "https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Noto+Sans+JP")

- Use Black (900) font weight

</td></tr><tr><td>##### **Font Size**

</td><td>**100-120 (Standard is 110)**

- <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">It should still be readable when viewed on a </span>**portrait mobile screen**.

</td></tr><tr><td>##### **Border or Outline Size**

</td><td>**7-8 (Standard is 7.5)**

</td></tr><tr><td>##### **Border or Outline Color**

</td><td>[**VTuber Color Reference**](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NKgTRraQz44xdxSp6smtWuSC4Ol3U8HD9an5d61Q8Vs/edit#gid=0)

- The border color should be contrasting to the video’s general tone.
- If it’s dark, use lighter colors and vice versa.

</td></tr><tr style="height: 10px;"><td>##### **Shadow**

</td><td>**0-1 (Standard is 0.5)**

- <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Shadows here are used as </span>**indents**<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> rather than actual shadows.</span>  
    <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">It's used primarily to make the text </span>**pop out more**. (**Shadow Indention**)
- <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">You should only choose the “shadow’s” color in the selected border color’s grayscale. </span>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

#### General Standards

<p class="callout info"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">For general and basic typesetting advice, we recommend lyger's </span>[Subtitling Guide](https://lyger.github.io/scripts/guides/subtitling.html).</p>

These are all-purpose guidelines we recommend for all subbers.

##### Font

- It should be easily distinguishable.
- It should be moderately thick.
- There are no unnecessary shapes to the characters.

##### Font Size

- The cap height should cover around 8% of the screen.
    - ~80 pixels on a 1080p video.
- Too small and it can’t be read on mobile vertical; Too big and it’ll steal most of the attention.

##### Border Size

- ~⅓ of the font’s thickness.
    - Eyeball it until it feels right.
    - Find the right balance for your font.

##### Border Color

- [**VTuber Color Reference.**](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NKgTRraQz44xdxSp6smtWuSC4Ol3U8HD9an5d61Q8Vs/edit#gid=0)
- It should be easily distinguishable who’s who. Especially in a collab.

##### Shadow

- Personally, using it other than indenting text is just a waste.
    - I won’t go past 3
- <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Might use it for </span>**ShadTrick**<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> instead.</span>

---

Note to HLR Docs Editors:

- Link to ShadTrick

# Margins, Alignment, and Positioning

It's not just about how each of the letters and lines look, but a major part of how subtitles can look good and be readable is how the subtitles are framed within the video. Specifically, the margins, alignment, and positioning of the subtitles.

<p class="callout info"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">For general and basic typesetting advice, we recommend lyger's </span>[Subtitling Guide](https://lyger.github.io/scripts/guides/subtitling.html).</p>

#### Margins

The Left and Right margin should at least be 60 (Standard is 150)

- It shouldn’t be anywhere near the edge of the screen.
- <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">It should always be </span>**near the center**.

Vertical margin should at least be 80 (Standard is 100).

<p class="callout danger"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The position of the subtitles should </span>**NOT**<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> be </span>**touching the YouTube player bar**.</p>

<p class="callout danger"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">It shouldn’t be able to </span>**cover more than the chin of the talent**.</p>

#### Alignment

- `<span class="editor-theme-code">an2</span>`<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> for general subtitles.</span>
- `<span class="editor-theme-code">an5</span>`<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> for tag manipulation and animations.</span>
- an7 for drawings.

#### Positions

The positions are dependent on what you are subbing.

- <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">If the video is a </span>**Free Talk or Story Telling**, it should be centralized on either the center of the screen or where the talent is.
- <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">If the video is a </span>**game-play**, it should be centralized on the gameplay and avoiding GUIs and Menus.<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"></span>
- <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The consensus is it should be over </span>**where the audience will be looking**.

These are common examples of where subtitles should go.

[![image11.png](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org//uploads/images/gallery/2025-06/scaled-1680-/Zw0F0sT7p45MzYEN-image11.png)](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org//uploads/images/gallery/2025-06/scaled-1680-/Zw0F0sT7p45MzYEN-image11.png)<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>[![unnamed-1.png](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org//uploads/images/gallery/2025-06/scaled-1680-/KemKvGsqRRt36U0H-unnamed-1.png)](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org//uploads/images/gallery/2025-06/KemKvGsqRRt36U0H-unnamed-1.png)

#### Collabs

**Define their positions**. If one goes on top of the other, that one should always be on top and vice versa.

If there is a line break, put the top’s position to the one below.

- If the top speaks earlier and has a line break but the bottom also speaks later on, keep the top’s original position.

# Line Breaking and CPS

<p class="callout info"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Note: This section is partially based on the </span>[**BBC Subtitle Guidelines**](https://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/forproducts/guides/subtitles/#Line-breaks).</p>

#### <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">CPS (Characters Per Second) </span>

> CPS measures the number of characters, including spaces and punctuation, that appear in subtitles per second.  
> - Amara

Characters per second is the scale of how readable text is in conjunction with reading speed. It determines whether or not there is enough time to read a certain subtitle line comfortably and without trouble. The simple objective is: low-ish CPS good, high CPS bad.

<table id="bkmrk-"><colgroup><col style="width: 240px;"></col><col style="width: 240px;"></col><col style="width: 240px;"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td>[![851731644380479488.webp](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org/uploads/images/gallery/2026-04/scaled-1680-/1ng6H6K31xFZTJAE-851731644380479488.webp)](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org/uploads/images/gallery/2026-04/scaled-1680-/1ng6H6K31xFZTJAE-851731644380479488.webp)

</td><td>[![859690432890929173.webp](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org/uploads/images/gallery/2026-04/scaled-1680-/yVvvLwwY7USWN7AT-859690432890929173.webp)](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org/uploads/images/gallery/2026-04/scaled-1680-/yVvvLwwY7USWN7AT-859690432890929173.webp)

</td><td>[![811488521563013131.webp](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org/uploads/images/gallery/2026-04/scaled-1680-/H4W0hHHbWyRyZSXu-811488521563013131.webp)](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org/uploads/images/gallery/2026-04/scaled-1680-/H4W0hHHbWyRyZSXu-811488521563013131.webp)

</td></tr></tbody></table>

**The CPS column in Aegisub scales from white to red depending on how high it is. Red CPS signifies that it is already dangerously high.**

- <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Always </span>**keep it below 20**. If it’s higher than that, you should contact your PRs to reword the sentence.
- If your CPS is less than 5, this means the line has a lot of space to work with and you can split and break it down.
- 20 (absolute max 25) if it's a long line (like more than 3 words)
- 15 (absolute max 20) if it's a short line (like 3 words or less)
- **Theoretical maximum CPS is 25**<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> and this is for </span>**Book Readers**.

#### Line breaking (\\N or Shift + Enter)

- <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">An </span>**ideal line break**<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> will be at a piece of punctuation like a full stop, comma, or dash.</span>
- A line break should always be before a pronoun/name.
- Avoid splitting the following parts of speech:
    - article and noun (e.g. the + table; a + book)
    - preposition and following phrase (e.g. on + the table; in + a way; about + his life)
    - conjunction and following phrase/clause (e.g. and + those books; but + I went there)
    - pronoun and verb (e.g. he + is; they + will come; it + comes)
    - parts of a complex verb (e.g. have + eaten; will + have + been + doing)
- Make sure the line break is justified. This means that the subtitles’ margins should relatively be weighed the same.
    - <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">There are some exceptions to this, such as when a word you’ll be line breaking is too long, you should </span>**prefer it to be bottom-heavy**.

#### There should only be 1 line break.

No matter what, there should only be 2 lines stacked on top of each other. If a sentence is too long, break the sentence down and split it into multiple lines instead.

#### Collabs

<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">If the video has multiple speakers, </span>**the maximum lines stacked that should appear is 3**.

- <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">If there are only </span>**2 speakers**, The one who is the main speaker of the conversation will get a line break while the other does not.
- <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">If </span>**3 speakers**<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> are speaking on top of each other, they each only get 1 line. No line breaks.</span>

<p class="callout warning">**If there’s more than 3, good luck.**</p>

# Double Border

- Installation of automation tools will be more detailed below.
- <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Double borders are used to give </span>*****more visibility*****<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> to the text for the viewer.</span>
- It’s only used if:
    - The border color is too light.
        - <span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">If it’s </span>****yellow****, always use Double Border.
    - The margin of the subtitles already has text behind it.
    - The margins of the subtitles are noisy and hard to see without it.

This is the settings used for adding double border:

[![unnamed.png](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org//uploads/images/gallery/2025-06/scaled-1680-/rtZlBIYtvXKG2BU6-unnamed.png)](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org//uploads/images/gallery/2025-06/rtZlBIYtvXKG2BU6-unnamed.png)

You can check “save configuration” to save this configuration.

<p class="callout info">****Shadow Indention****<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> can be used as a substitute or in addition.</span></p>

# Tips and Shortcuts

You can save styles on your style manager to always have a preset whenever you are doing a new project. This can save time if you have all the default settings already made and just need to be readjusted accordingly.

[![image15.png](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org//uploads/images/gallery/2025-06/scaled-1680-/aunphM2C5n3gtzGo-image15.png)](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org//uploads/images/gallery/2025-06/scaled-1680-/aunphM2C5n3gtzGo-image15.png)

Having a standard that fits this guideline is advisable.

# Typesetting Examples

##### Standard subtitles under normal circumstances

**Taken from** [*****Iofi has to scold her chat \[Hololive Eng Sub | Airani Iofifteen\]***** ](https://youtu.be/m0DuDrL7Xz4)

[![image14.png](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org//uploads/images/gallery/2025-06/scaled-1680-/vdTESsyZSmQRDKKq-image14.png)](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org//uploads/images/gallery/2025-06/scaled-1680-/vdTESsyZSmQRDKKq-image14.png)

##### Standard subtitles made to fit the game’s UI

<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Taken from </span>[*****Ollie tries to steal from Moona, fails \[Hololive Eng Sub | Kureiji Ollie / Moona Hoshinova\]***** ](https://youtu.be/podkUDjg4VA)

[![image2.png](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org//uploads/images/gallery/2025-06/scaled-1680-/UKwBduetjWsZOeIc-image2.png)](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org//uploads/images/gallery/2025-06/scaled-1680-/UKwBduetjWsZOeIc-image2.png)

##### Standard subtitles with color and border modifications

<span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Taken from </span>[*****Towa explains the meaning behind “Palette” \[Hololive Eng Sub | Tokoyami Towa\]***** ](https://youtu.be/gaACICL0IG4)

[![unnamed.png](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org//uploads/images/gallery/2025-06/scaled-1680-/sGEyJGDSHbXimtYO-unnamed.png)](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org//uploads/images/gallery/2025-06/sGEyJGDSHbXimtYO-unnamed.png)

##### Standard subtitles with animation and size modifications

**Taken from** [*****Subaru got stood up feat. Shion \[Hololive Eng Sub | Murasaki Shion\]***** ](https://youtu.be/ozgiHt2u8FU)

[![image12.png](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org//uploads/images/gallery/2025-06/scaled-1680-/5L0YjXcfm0B4UNph-image12.png)](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org//uploads/images/gallery/2025-06/scaled-1680-/5L0YjXcfm0B4UNph-image12.png)

##### Standard subtitles with placement adjustments and multiple speakers

**Taken from the HLR Subbing Test**

[![image4.png](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org//uploads/images/gallery/2025-06/scaled-1680-/YO92FdhJc68N0abf-image4.png)](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org//uploads/images/gallery/2025-06/scaled-1680-/YO92FdhJc68N0abf-image4.png)

##### Non-HLR sub implementing HLR guidelines with custom font / typeface

**Taken from** [*****Selen fights Giganto in Sonic Frontiers*****](https://youtu.be/OnxkKWfcj5E)

[![Masao T - Selen fights Giganto in Sonic Frontiers [OnxkKWfcj5E - 1920x1080 - 0m06s].png](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org//uploads/images/gallery/2025-06/scaled-1680-/U9dcf325cvLsNs9U-masao-t-selen-fights-giganto-in-sonic-frontiers-onxkkwfcj5e-1920x1080-0m06s.png)](https://wiki.holoresorttls.org//uploads/images/gallery/2025-06/scaled-1680-/TjWfKc5Z0F0NrTBx-masao-t-selen-fights-giganto-in-sonic-frontiers-onxkkwfcj5e-1920x1080-0m06s.png)

# Additional Typesetting References

##### Here are some additional resources you may find useful:

- [Subtitling Guide by lyger](https://lyger.github.io/scripts/guides/subtitling.html)
- [BBC Subtitling Guidelines](https://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/forproducts/guides/subtitles/https://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/forproducts/guides/subtitles/)
- [English Timed Text Style Guide by Netflix](https://partnerhelp.netflixstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/217350977-English-Timed-Text-Style-Guide)
- [Typesetting in Aegisub by unanimated](https://unanimated.github.io/ts/index.htm)