This study examined the influence of textual display in printed instruction on the attention, performance, and preference of 90 preservice teachers, and investigated differential effects of textual display for high and low ability learners. Textual display was operationally defined as the arrangement of specified elements on the printed page, and was manipulated by varying text and column width and position, horizontal and vertical spacing, and heading placement in three versions--Simple Textual Display, Moderate Textual Display, and Complex Textual Display--of a printed self-instructional text. Ability was measured by grade point average. Attention was measured by the Attention subscale of the Instructional Materials Motivation Scale (IMMS). Performance was measured by an objective-referenced test of recall. Preference was measured by items from the IMMS Attention and Confidence subscales. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance and chi-square. Results indicated that there was an interaction between ability and textual display for performance, but not for attention. Results also indicated that textual display significantly influenced performance, but not attention. The moderate textual display produced significantly higher performance scores for low ability subjects. Results of the test for preference revealed that, of the three versions, learners preferred the text exhibiting the Moderate Textual Display. (62 references) (Author/GL)