Why is this page intentionally blank

The "intentionally blank page" in contracts and other documents is ubiquitous. What on earth is it there for? For such an enigma, it's best to start off with a clean sheet. Wikipedia cheekily defines it as, "a page that is devoid of content, and may be unexpected. That's right, you just never know where a blank page may be lurking. You might be perusing a legal document, scrutinizing a government's tax code, reading a scientific study, or taking a standardized test One moment you were assimilating information from a text-filled manuscript and then, with a hasty turn of a crinkled page, nothing It has appeared over the Millennia with so many names and so many faces.

PocketBrain I wish I came across one of those every once and a while. Thank you! The theory behind it being that as long as the page count stayed the same, the entire publication did not require review before reprinting, just the revised portions.

Food for thought. Many years ago I pondered the very statement that is under discussion here in this most illuminating forum.

This was a great read, but why was it given the Broadcast status? And was this originally written for a blog out or something that I can subscribe to? And what if I roll it up and smoke it? I see that I have been perceived. I suppose I must have existed. As were you, and did you, elegantly.

All my insanity and riffing aside, your soon-to-be Five Easy Pieces plus-i-hope-many-more-articles-on-the-way-asap are beyond wonderful. I am envious of the skill and dedication used to gather the background, and the grace and gravity of the final written result. I wish I could write thus. Ahhh, my prose is earthbound. What else of yours is out there, please? I could use a little Quality now and then. Learn more. Ask Question. Asked 6 years, 4 months ago.

Active 11 months ago. Viewed 1k times. I'm pretty sure I saw a user manual once with pages like this: We were going to say this page is intentionally blank, but once we did, we realized it isn't blank any more.

Improve this question. Nick Gammon Nick Gammon 2 2 silver badges 12 12 bronze badges. Seriously, we're you puzzled by the intentionally blank thing or are you just testing out material that will make you the next Jerry Seinfeld? I relished the insistence on self-inclusion! Ignore this page — Edwin Ashworth. This text is not here. There is no spoon. I have seen wording along the lines of "This page contains no meaningful information" not exactly what I've seen but something like that.

However, the "intentionally left blank" idiom is so well known and understood and a source of mild amusement in otherwise dry documents that there's no reason to change it. Show 13 more comments. Active Oldest Votes. My proposition: "The rest of this page is intentionally left blank.

Improve this answer. It's typically a legal holdover rather than strictly UX related. I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it has nothing to do with UX but is a question about the history of book printing. VitalyMijiritsky User experience can apply to many things, not just software. VitalyMijiritsky A blank page could have a very specific intention.

We use white spaces all the time on screens. Besides, UX is not just digital. A paradoxically printed page in a book stating that itself is left blank on purpose is a little more on the UX side than "every manufactured object in the world has a user Show 14 more comments. Active Oldest Votes. And the reason I see it most often Intentionally blank pages are usually the result of printing conventions and techniques And to add to why they write "This page is intentionally left blank" instead of just leaving it blank They are marked "intentionally left blank", of course, because they don't want readers to worry that a printing mistake has left them missing something good.

Improve this answer. DasBeasto DasBeasto It relates to UX in the same way we say "0 search results found" instead of just leaving the page blank. Brian: No, they won't keep staring at the page. I once found 5 consecutive missing pages in the last chapter of a really good novel. I now scan books for blank pages before I read them. These notices help a lot. There's a sentence in it!

Show 15 more comments. DA01 DA01 I only know that phrase from ISO standards. It makes sense to notify the user that there is no important content on the page. Missing pages in an standard you have to conform to would be very bad. If you might accidentally leave the page blank, you might accidentally insert a page This page left intentionally blank where a proper page should be for example, a misfeed in a collating machine. Add a comment. Lots of "intentionally blank" pages, strategically placed, means we can change 1 or 2 sheets, here and there, rather than the whole bleeping document!

How do you handle page numbers? DewiMorgan I used to do consulting work for the Air Force.