Many thanks Wolfgang
I tried using force but that caused a problem with aligning to the
grid, not included in my original example, but included below.
I think I have seen \mbox used in this way in Latex, so was trying to
find a quick solution.
James
\setuplayout[grid=yes]
\showgrid
\setuphead[chapter][before={\blank[4*big]}]
\starttext
\startchapter[title={No space above this chapter}]
chapter text etc
\stopchapter
\setuphead[chapter][before={\blank[4*big,force]}]
\startchapter[title={Chapter with spacing but out of line with grid}]
chapter text etc
\stopchapter
\setuphead[chapter][before={\blank[4*line,force]}]
\startchapter[title={Chapter with spacing but out of line with grid}]
chapter text etc
\stopchapter
\stoptext
On Thu, 18 Jun 2020 at 16:44, Wolfgang Schuster
James Withers schrieb am 18.06.2020 um 17:35:
Hello list
I have been trying to find a solution to how to insert blank lines before a chapter heading at the start of a page. In the following example the \blank[4*big] is ignored. The solution I've found is to add an empty box using \mbox{} before the \blank command.
I'm curious where the use of \mbox is documented.
Is this the right way to do it or is there a more elegant way that I am missing?
Many thanks
James
\setuphead[chapter][before={\blank[4*big]}]
You have to add the "force" keyword to \blank because TeX ignores by default vertical space at the begin of a page.
\setuphead[chapter][before={\blank[force,4*big]}]
Wolfgang