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Typothalamus
Typothalamus
Known Participant
August 26, 2022
Question

Initial line of most paragraphs hyphenating

  • August 26, 2022
  • 2 replies
  • 285 views

Laying out a book where I'm finding a surprisingly high rate of first lines to paragraphs hyphenating. Approximately half the first lines to some chapters. The line length is a fairly standard 12–15 words, though usually a word shorter on the first line as it's indented (by .55cm), but this seems to be having the effect of dramatically increasing the instances of hyphenation on that first line. It interrupts flow when when it happens so consistently, just as the reader is trying to gain momentum on that first line. Any thoughts? Appreciate all replies. 

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2 replies

Joel Cherney
Community Expert
Joel CherneyCommunity Expert
Community Expert
August 26, 2022

I think that James is probably right. However, I recall a bug I encountered that caused differences in handling of text layout between the Adobe Paragraph Composer and the World-Ready Composer. If you select a bunch of text with the Text tool and switch composers (in the Justification dialog, or in the flyout menu from the Paragraph panel) does your layout change at all? It seems to happen more often to me with hanging indents, e.g. bulleted or numbered paragraphs. 

 

 

 

    Typothalamus
    TypothalamusAuthor
    Known Participant
    September 3, 2022

    I was hopeful that a switch to World-Ready Composer might work, not as hopeful that Chinese warplanes would stop entering our air defense zone here in Taiwan, but close. Alas, no change this time, on either front.

    James Gifford—NitroPress
    James Gifford—NitroPress
    Legend
    August 26, 2022

    There may be some technical reasons (style setting) that is causing this, but I'd bet it's just the way the chips are falling with your content.

     

    Tweak your hyphenation settings by a tick here and there to see if you can push ID to distribute the breaks a little more evenly.

     

     

    —

      Typothalamus
      TypothalamusAuthor
      Known Participant
      September 3, 2022

      Certainly a possibility that this is an expression of sheer randomness, and many adjustments to H&J settings were tried with some success, but overall, it's a compromise if I opt to eliminate these hyphenations on the first line. Does it bother others as much if you see 80% of the first couple pages' paragraphs hyphenating on the first line?

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