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JohannesKrueger
Inspiring
February 23, 2011
Answered

Controlled hyphenation without hyphens

  • February 23, 2011
  • 2 replies
  • 614 views

In a table of software-related keywords, a few keywords are sometimes to long to fit in one line, e.g. "QuiteLenghtySampleKeyword" would be hyphenated like this:

QuiteLengthySampleKey-
word

If I add the suppress hyphenation character \x05, the maximum number of characters is held in the first line, and the word breaks without a hyphen:

QuiteLengthySampleKeyw
ord

Is it possible to control hyphenation in way that a keyword breaks without a hyphen (as it does in the 2nd example) but at a specified position? I can't really use a forced return, because it appears as an extra space in cross-references to that keyword.



Thanks in advance for any helpful suggestions.

Johannes

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    Correct answer Shlomo Perets

    Try adding a "zero-width" space; best implemented through a variable.

    First define a character format (e.g. zMinWidth, where all is "As Is", except Size=2pt, Spread= -5%, Stretch=10%), and then define a variable which only has this character format followed by a regular space. Insert the variable it where you want to allow line breaks without hyphens.

    I used a variation of this with a forward slash followed by this zero/near zero space in documents where the forward slash cannot be allowed as a line-break point on a general basis (so that "I/O" does not break between lines, but "installation/configuration" does break at the slash if needed).

    Shlomo Perets, http://www.microtype.com

    FrameMaker training & consulting

    2 replies

    Shlomo PeretsCorrect answer
    Inspiring
    February 23, 2011

    Try adding a "zero-width" space; best implemented through a variable.

    First define a character format (e.g. zMinWidth, where all is "As Is", except Size=2pt, Spread= -5%, Stretch=10%), and then define a variable which only has this character format followed by a regular space. Insert the variable it where you want to allow line breaks without hyphens.

    I used a variation of this with a forward slash followed by this zero/near zero space in documents where the forward slash cannot be allowed as a line-break point on a general basis (so that "I/O" does not break between lines, but "installation/configuration" does break at the slash if needed).

    Shlomo Perets, http://www.microtype.com

    FrameMaker training & consulting

    JohannesKruegerAuthor
    Inspiring
    February 23, 2011

    Works perfectly. Thank you, Shlomo.

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