[NTG-context] Re: Lengthening/shortening paragraphs

25 Jun 2025

      Thanks Mikail

I'll look into this when I'm back at my desk. In XeTeX I'm used to
looseness always working when the number is positive (generally just 1, of
course), even if that produces horrible interword spacing, while if the
number is negative it sometimes doesn't work at all if it simply can't
squeeze the words together enough (I can force it if I really have to).

But for now my concentration is on Mendelssohn and not matters
typographical!

Best wishes

John  *🇪🇺 * Слава Україні!
* 🇺🇦*

On Wed, 25 Jun 2025, 13:44 Mikael Sundqvist,  wrote:
...
Hi  John,
I don't know what you are doing, maybe an example is needed. Since you
have used TeX for such a long time I assume that you know that looseness is
bound to the current paragraph and that it does not always change the
output of it.
Here is one example that shortens one line:
\setuplayout
  [width=15.55cm]
\showframe
\starttext
\looseness-1
\samplefile {tufte}
\stoptext
Here is one example that lengthens one line.
\setuplayout
  [width=14cm]
\showframe
\starttext
\looseness1
\samplefile {tufte}
\stoptext
If you have access to tugboat, there is in the latest issue a rather long
and detailed article about working with paragraphs in ConTeXt lmtx.
/Mikael
On Wed, Jun 25, 2025 at 12:55 PM Denis Maier via ntg-context <
ntg-context@ntg.nl> wrote:
...
First, just guessing but maybe if more adds a line there might also be a
less parameter.
Anyway, this here works for me as well (adapted from Hans’s example,
https://mailman.ntg.nl/archives/list/ntg-context@ntg.nl/message/6MRZEFJD5SGI...
):
\starttext
\startlinenumbering
\startparagraph
\input ward
Bla bla bla bla bla Bla.
\stopparagraph
\stoplinenumbering
\blank
\startlinenumbering
\startparagraph\looseness=+1
\input ward
Bla bla bla bla bla Bla.
\stopparagraph
\stoplinenumbering
\blank
\startlinenumbering
\startparagraph
\input ward
Bla bla bla bla bla Bla.
\looseness=+1\updateparagraphproperties\stopparagraph
\stoplinenumbering
\blank
\startlinenumbering
\startparagraph
\input ward
Bla bla bla bla bla Bla Bla.
\stopparagraph
\stoplinenumbering
\blank
\startlinenumbering
\startparagraph\looseness=-1
\input ward
Bla bla bla bla bla Bla.
\stopparagraph
\stoplinenumbering
\stoptext
*Von:* John Was 
*Gesendet:* Mittwoch, 25. Juni 2025 12:34
*An:* mailing list for ConTeXt users 
*Betreff:* [NTG-context] Re: Lengthening/shortening paragraphs
Hello Wolfgang
Thanks for that - I thought there would probably be a way of manipulating
a paragraph through some other mechanism, and the temporary alignment
setting does the job.  (I'll investigate at some point how to do the
reverse since sometimes one wants to lose a line, typically so that a
footnote can be squeezed in.)
Best wishes
John Waś  *🇪🇺 * Слава Україні! *🇺🇦*
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On Tue, 24 Jun 2025 at 16:50, Wolfgang Schuster <
wolfgang.schuster.lists@gmail.com> wrote:
Am 24.06.2025 um 17:00 schrieb John Was:
...
Hello.  Is there a ConTeXt equivalent for plain TeX's \loosness (which
allows the program to lengthening a paragraph, or shorten it if the
number is negative). At the final stages of a book this is often useful
for getting rid of unsightly gaps.
\showgrid
\starttext
\samplefile{zapf}
\page
\startalignment[normal,verytolerant,stretch,more]
\samplefile{zapf}
\stopalignment
\page
\startalignment[normal,verytolerant,stretch,2*more]
\samplefile{zapf}
\stopalignment
\stoptext
Wolfgang
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