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diff --git a/Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/html/FAQ-widows.html b/Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/html/FAQ-widows.html new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..357ae7d857e --- /dev/null +++ b/Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/html/FAQ-widows.html @@ -0,0 +1,47 @@ +<head> +<title>UK TeX FAQ -- question label widows</title> +</head><body> +<h3>Controlling widows and orphans</h3> +<p/>Widows (the last line of a paragraph at the start of a page) and +orphans (the first line of paragraph at the end of a page) interrupt +the reader’s flow, and are generally considered “bad form”; +(La)TeX takes some precautions to avoid them, but completely +automatic prevention is often impossible. If you are typesetting your +own text, consider whether you can bring yourself to change the +wording slightly so that the page break will fall differently. +<p/>The page maker, when forming a page, takes account of +<code>\</code><code>widowpenalty</code> and <code>\</code><code>clubpenalty</code> (which relates to orphans!). +These penalties are usually set to the moderate value of <code>150</code>; this +offers mild discouragement of bad breaks. You can increase the values +by saying (for example) <code>\</code><code>widowpenalty</code><code>=500</code>; however, vertical +lists (such as pages are made of) typically have rather little +stretchability or shrinkability, so if the page maker has to balance +the effect of stretching the unstretchable and being penalised, the +penalty will seldom win. Therefore, for typical layouts, there are +only two sensible settings for the penalties: finite (150 or 500, it +doesn’t matter which) to allow widows and orphans, and infinite (10000 +or greater) to forbid them. +<p/>The problem can be avoided by allowing +the pagemaker to run pages short, by using the <code>\</code><code>raggedbottom</code> +directive; however, many publishers insist on the default +<code>\</code><code>flushbottom</code>; it is seldom acceptable to introduce stretchability +into the vertical list, except at points (such as section headings) +where the document design explicitly permits it. +<p/>Once you’ve exhausted the automatic measures, and have a final draft +you want to “polish”, you should proceed to manual measures. To +get rid of an orphan is simple: precede the paragraph with +<code>\</code><code>clearpage</code> and the paragraph can’t start in the wrong place. +<p/>Getting rid of a widow can be more tricky. If the paragraph is a long +one, it may be possible to set it ‘tight’: say <code>\</code><code>looseness</code><code>=-1</code> +immediately after the last word of the paragraph. If that doesn’t +work, try adjusting the page size: +<code>\</code><code>enlargethispage{<code>\</code><code>baselineskip</code>}</code> may do the job, and +get the whole paragraph on one page. Reducing the size of the page by +<code>\</code><code>enlargethispage{-<code>\</code><code>baselineskip</code>}</code> may produce a +(more-or-less) acceptable “two-line widow”. (Note: +<code>\</code><code>looseness</code><code>=1</code>, +increasing the line length by one, seldom seems to work — the looser +paragraph typically has a one-word final line, which doesn’t look much +better than the straight widow.) +<p/><p/><p/><p>This question on the Web: <a href="http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=widows">http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=widows</a> +</body> |