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Set a target average character count per line

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
March 13, 2024
4 replies
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This seems like an obvious one but I'm missing it in searches, other than in a post where it was requested as a feature: Is there a way to set the desired average min/max character count, inclusive spaces, per line?

In a book layout with body text where we're otherwise pleased with all its variables, I beleive we need a way to push H&J to help get a desired 84.8 avg. number of characters per line, based on a Taschen model, in a column 13.4 cm wide, fully justified, that's now averaging 87.8 characters. Basically needing ~3 characters less per line, (a subtle but still signifnicant dfference in relaxing readability for this particular layout).

Just widening tracking is too much of a brutal global action, aesthetically/typographically, in what it does to the appearance of words as units. I believe we need mostly the word spacing to do the work, and it would be great if this could be governed in part by a setting that aims for a desired character count per line.

If not, then what works as an alternative means to govern and monitor line character count? Kind thanks ——

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Correct answer rob day

@rob day

But what if there are a lot of single line paragraphs...

But what if there are a lot of single line paragraphs...

Then they would get skipped— @Typothalamus wants to know what the average character count is for the full measure.

This is a better average for the full measure:

Than this, which is including the last lines:

rob day

Adobe Expert

I believe we need mostly the word spacing to do the work

Hi @Typothalamus, You can use the Justification settings to force more word space without tracking the letter spacing by setting the Desired Word Spacing to something more than 100%:

Then you could then check the average character count per fully justified lines via scripting. Something like this:

var p = app.activeDocument.selection[0].paragraphs;
var lnc = 0;
var c = 0;
var ln;

for (var i = 0; i < p.length; i++){
    ln = p[i].lines
    lnc += ln.length - 1
    for (var j = 0; j < ln.length - 1; j++){
        c += ln[j].characters.length
    };   
}; 
alert("The Selected Text Averages " + (c/lnc).toFixed(2) +" Characters Per Line")

Robert at ID-Tasker

Brainiac

@rob day

You don't have to iterate through Lines in Paragraphs - you can go straight for Lines collection of the selection.

rob day

Adobe Expert

I’m skipping the last line of the paragraphs in order to only count complete lines—the last line of a paragraph might have only a few characters, which would distort the line average. I started with this, but it’s not really the average of the fully justified lines:

var s = app.activeDocument.selection[0];
var a = s.characters.length/s.lines.length
alert(a.toFixed(2))

Peter Spier

Adobe Expert

Don't know if it will work, but you mentioned you want to do this with word spacing, so why not simply add a GREP style to your paragraph styles to track just the spaces? Or to change the horizontal scale of space characters?

TypothalamusAuthor

Known Participant

Yes, that absolutely seems an approach to take/try, by all means. I'm not at all familiar with exactly how to do it (" simply add a GREP style to your paragraph styles to track just the spaces"), and will try to search the forum for instruction. Anything to get me started on the path, if inclined, may help. Thank you. I still wonder why the desired word space function seems to have little effect and whether that's to do with full justification constraining it, or something else.

Peter Spier

Adobe Expert

in brief, create a character style that does nothing other than change the tracking value (or you can try horizontal scale) and apply it as a GREP style.

According to Peter Kahrel's GREP in InDesign primer \p{zs} should match any horizontal space except tab or return or I think you can just type a space-bar hit into the dialog if you don't want to affect the fixed-width spaces.

Robert at ID-Tasker

Brainiac

@Typothalamus

Script could go line by line and do what you need - play with various types of spacing / tracking / etc. - but does it really matter if there is 84 or 88 characters per line? Or you just want to avoid extremely "overcrowded" lines?

TypothalamusAuthor

Known Participant

Indeed it seems to make a meaningful difference, at this end of the spectrum, whether we violate the established 80 max character count recommendation by 4 or by 8. This seems the same as avoiding an overcrowed (simply, tight) line by that amount of characters.

Similarly, narrowing the column by 0.5 cm is also very impactful in terms of easing readability, which, incidentally, equates to about 4 characters as well. However we don't wish to go the route of redesigning the columns and layout broadly.

If looking closely at the Taschen model in Scala Sans shared above, there's a bit more word spacing evident, which seems key. Bumping Calluna Sans from 9.9 pt to 10 helps, but gets too heavy in weight. We end up being constraint-trapped. But coaxing mostly more word space out of the settings towards the target of an 84 character count average by some means seems the way.

It may help to share H&J settings on our layout here. Thanks for responding.

James Gifford—NitroPress

Brainiac

It doesn't exist as an InDesign feature and I can't say as I've ever heard it requested or discussed.

It could be enabled as a script or set of scripts, but I think only as a manual (on call) operation and I am not quite sure how a runtime interface would be best incorporated. It might need a full plugin with support code beyond what scripting can bring, and a control/info pane.

But mostly, I have to ask: what do you see as the need or purpose for such a feature?

TypothalamusAuthor

Known Participant

Thanks for responding. More detail was added to the post before seeing your reply, but essentially, in typographical theory and fundamentals, there's an established ideal range of characters per line for optimal readability in body text, and this, despte all the myriad font choices, layouts and other variables, still holds due to unchanging physiology, arm length, avg distance to reading surface, etc. Typically no more than 80 characters per a line's measure is acceptabale. In some cases it can be pushed out a tad, but in several years of visual tests on the current book in development I'm on, we know that an extra 3-4 characters above about 84 is detrimental and beyond the limit.

Pictured below is a popular Taschen series book used as a model, 13.4 cm wide column, Scala Sans, likely 10 pt, yielding an avg 84.8 characters per line. Laid atop the bottom half is a scale printout of our text, same column width (not it Scala but Calluna Sans, 9.9 pt, tracked 1 unit wide), averaging 87.8 characters a line, 3 characters more.

As a visual test, covering up 3 characters on either side brings the line — suprisingly so — into a more comfortable readability. This assessment follows hundreds of hours of review, and rests on well-established theory.

Some options available include wider tracking and fractionally increasing point size. Both are visually unappealing here with the former disrupting word unity, and the latter giving too much weight and darkness on the page to the text block for us, relative to all elements. Substituting Scala Sans, which is a hair lighter in weight than Calluna Sans, at 10 pt, would help, but we can't use Scala. A custominsed version of Calluna Sans with a slightly lighter weight (and not their official Light version — too dramatically different) in 10 pt would also do it, but that is beyond our means to request from a font designer.

James Gifford—NitroPress

Brainiac

I saw the added material but it still didn't address the 'why' — I should have guessed readability.

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