This paper examines some of the ways designers, calligraphers or craftsmen (the distinction is not always clear) planned inscriptions that, either on a vertical or horizontal plane, were broken through differing orientations. The use of Arabic script, even in non-Arabic speaking countries, provides a measure of unity to the subject. Examples from the Maghrib to Iran are studied, from the beginning of Islam until the sixteenth century CE. In early Quranic manuscripts words were freely divided between lines. This is also a feature of early inscription panels and remained extremely common in subsequent centuries. One of the most common placings for inscriptions is on the four sides of the base of the zone of transition of a domed bay, necessitating four right-angled turns. Here too there was an initial tendency to spread words over the turns (seen first at the Zaytuna mosque in Tunis (864 CE). Another area where this was a problem was on mihrabs and portals, since the introduction of inscriptions on these areas from the 10th century onwards. With framing inscriptions epigraphers had to deal with the question of how to negotiate the corner turns, posing layout problems different to that of an inscription on the four sides of a square where ligatures could be extended horizontally around a corner. From the late Ayyubid period onwards religious architecture in Cairo is distinguished by elaborate fenestration often set within stepped recesses; placing an inscription on the succession of narrow right-angled turns entailed more challenges for designers. The paper examines how the continuing conflicts between ease of design (or perhaps in the case of craftsmen, ease of application) and legibility were gradually resolved. One reason was the necessity for foundation inscriptions to be actually read, given their legal status as conveying ownership of the building. Another is an increased reliance on calligraphers who drew up the inscriptions more accurately beforehand, in turn helped by the more readily availability and reduction in the cost of the paper used to plan them. With inscriptions where a calligrapher is unlikely to have been involved, such as epitaphs, the increasing literacy of the craftsmen may have been a factor. What is surprising is how long it took for the custom of spreading words over turns to disappear; it was not until the sixteenth century that the practice almost completely died out.