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Known Participant
December 21, 2024
Question

Hanging widows in tables

  • December 21, 2024
  • 3 replies
  • 473 views

Hi, I am working on my first book layout in InDesign.
I was told that hanging widows should be avoided. However, does it matter when there is only a little text, like in the example? I can't adjust the width of the columns. If I have a hanging widow (right), it looks a bit nicer, but if I don't (left), it feels a bit odd.

What makes the most sense for my example? Or just in general tables with little text?

 

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3 replies

Community Expert
December 22, 2024

Add a non-break style to the text for the last space in a paragraph

Create a character style and call it no-break - and only tick on the No Break function in the Character Style

 

In your paragraph style you can then add in the Grep Style section 


You'd have to finese the GREP to suit your needs, there's probably a better way than this

 

(\S+)\s+(\S+)\s*$|(\S+)(\s)(\S+)(\s*[[:punct:]]?)$

This grep is two parts split by the pipe '|'

First search is for the last space in a paragraph

The 2nd part searches for alternate spacing you might encounter in other languages, like French where it could be 'asda dasdkl ?' with spaces before punctuation. 

 

It should catch most instances if you have any issues we'd need to see exact text to build the GREP. 

 

 

 

 

Mike Witherell
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 21, 2024

This is an example of a short line, also known as a runt line. It is not a widow/orphan typesetting situation.

In a table where you cannot alter the width, you might consider:
Rewriting the expression to be either longer to better fill the short line, or shorter to make it one line?

Rewriting the expression to improve the expression grammatically (as JMLevy suggests) and therefore breaking the line manually to at least improve grammatical phrasing?

A paragraph style controlling the text can have Balance Ragged Lines turned on?

Can you increase the Cell Insets?

Can you make peace with the fact that tables are often unavoidably nicht schön? 

Mike Witherell
James Gifford—NitroPress
Legend
December 21, 2024

If manually breaking lines for better balance isn't workable, I'd give Balance Ragged Lines a shot. But yes, overall, single words and other very short text on a new line is to be avoided.

jmlevy
Community Expert
Community Expert
December 21, 2024

What makes the most sense for my example?

My mother tongue is French, but I think it will be the same in German: none of them.

You should not leave a single word on the line, but you should send the word “ihre” at the beginning of the second line.

Why? There are 2 reasons:

  1.  The second line will be longer than the first, so it will be more balanced
  2. Grammatically, the possessive adjective should stay with the name it refers to.