Ciro,
From a purely typographical point of view, a hyphenated word is always better than excessive space between words in a line (which is more discernable to the eye).
However, depending on column width, the language the text is typeset in, and the algorithm that is used for hyphenation & justification, some texts can be typeset without very few hyphens. But if a text is typeset without hyphenation - take a really good look at the word spacing. Chances are, they are large. BTW, it's easier to see excessive wordspacing if you hold the page upside down and squint with your eyes. Ok, here's something for the spacing aficionados: Take a look at "The art of spacing" by Bartels (Chicago, 1926). I have it at hand when I'm writing this. Not one hyphen in the whole book, not one excessive wordspace - and all last lines in paragraphs ending less than a one or two ems from the right margin. Beautiful, and probably mathematically impossible to achieve. If I don't remember wrong, DEK writes about Bartels in one of his books and suspects he rewrote the text while handsetting the lines. I would agree with that. Best regards, Mats Broberg
-----Original Message----- From: ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl [mailto:ntg-context-bounces@ntg.nl] On Behalf Of Ciro A. Soto Sent: den 26 februari 2005 18:08 To: mailing list for ConTeXt users Subject: [NTG-context] lack of hyphenation
The knowlegeable John Culleton said in one of the lists that he could recognize if a book was typeset with MS-word by looking at the "rivers" and the lack of hyphenation. I then checked my 310-page book I am typesetting with context and not a single line had a hyphenated word at the end.
So, my question is: Is it okay? or do I need to set any parameter to allow hyphenation? I do have \tolerance=10000, because I don't like lines longer than the rest, but I thought I could still get some hyphenated words. Am I right?
thank you Ciro
===== ================== Ciro A. Soto Author of "The Guitar Maker. An Exploration of Wisdom, Design and Love." Pub. Date: Aug. 2005.
"All problems are at the interface. Each one of them has a solution." _______________________________________________ ntg-context mailing list ntg-context@ntg.nl http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context