Golden ratio
Also called Phi, φ, Divine proportion
The proportion where the whole is to the larger part as the larger part is to the smaller, approximately 1.618, and the most over-claimed number in design.
Near it
Modular scale
Rule of thirds
GridWhat it is made of
| what is true | 1.618, and it is a real number with real properties | |
| what is not | that a page laid out to it is thereby better | |
| HOUSE JUDGMENT, and the measurement on our own work is a nil | 1.618, 0.618 and 61.8 appear ZERO times in this site's stylesheet, and so do 33.3 and 66.6 for the rule of thirds | measured on this site's own stylesheet, which is the whole of its CSS. This house uses neither, anywhere, and says so rather than discussing a proportion it does not employ |
Where it came from
Euclid states it as the extreme and mean ratio. The claims that it governs the Parthenon, the Great Pyramid and the human face are, in every case where somebody has gone and measured, retrofitted.