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Between-character kerning for justified lines



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 1st, 2004, 01:14 AM
Karl Perry
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Default Between-character kerning for justified lines

I've looked on the Web for answers but have not yet found anything.

Using Word 2002 SP3 on WinXP Pro.

In narrow fully-justified paragraphs, body text often contains wide gaps
between words. I've improved this somewhat by turning on "Do full
justification like Wordperfect 6.x for Windows," but it's still not right.

"Professional" type publishing programs add whitespace/kerning between
characters within words to lessen the amount of whitespace between words.
Is it possible to get Word to do this automatically?

TIA,

Karl Perry


  #2  
Old September 1st, 2004, 02:03 AM
Jezebel
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Default

Word's typography is a pig's breakfast at the best of times. If you need
good typography, Word is not the program to use.


"Karl Perry" wrote in message
...
I've looked on the Web for answers but have not yet found anything.

Using Word 2002 SP3 on WinXP Pro.

In narrow fully-justified paragraphs, body text often contains wide gaps
between words. I've improved this somewhat by turning on "Do full
justification like Wordperfect 6.x for Windows," but it's still not right.

"Professional" type publishing programs add whitespace/kerning between
characters within words to lessen the amount of whitespace between words.
Is it possible to get Word to do this automatically?

TIA,

Karl Perry




  #3  
Old September 1st, 2004, 06:00 AM
Robert
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Default

Greetings--
Maybe you could try using expanded character spacing.
--
Cheers
Robert

On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 17:14:27 -0700, Karl Perry wrote:

I've looked on the Web for answers but have not yet found anything.

Using Word 2002 SP3 on WinXP Pro.

In narrow fully-justified paragraphs, body text often contains wide gaps
between words. I've improved this somewhat by turning on "Do full
justification like Wordperfect 6.x for Windows," but it's still not

right.

"Professional" type publishing programs add whitespace/kerning between
characters within words to lessen the amount of whitespace between words.
Is it possible to get Word to do this automatically?

TIA,

Karl Perry

  #4  
Old September 1st, 2004, 10:46 PM
Karl Perry
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"Jezebel" wrote in message
...
Word's typography is a pig's breakfast at the best of times. If you need
good typography, Word is not the program to use.


For the kinds of things I generally do, Word does fine - I don't need great
typography. However, it would be nice for narrow columns to look nice to -
hence my question.

Unfortunately I don't really have an alternative at the moment.

Karl


  #5  
Old September 1st, 2004, 10:48 PM
Karl Perry
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Posts: n/a
Default


"Robert" wrote in message
...
Greetings--
Maybe you could try using expanded character spacing.


Yeah - but that applies to all characters in a selection, and has to be
controlled manually. I'm looking for a setting that will make Word be more
intelligent for an entire document so I don't have to do things by hand.

These are proposals, not brochures. They don't, in general, need to be a
typographer's dream - I just would prefer them not to be so much of a
nightmare.

Looks like I'm stuck with what Word gives us.

Karl


  #6  
Old September 1st, 2004, 11:37 PM
Jezebel
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Default

The best you can do, using Word for narrow columns, is not to justify at
all. Ragged right has been proved to be more readable in any case,
particular if the justification is poor, which with Word it always is.


"Karl Perry" wrote in message
...

"Jezebel" wrote in message
...
Word's typography is a pig's breakfast at the best of times. If you need
good typography, Word is not the program to use.


For the kinds of things I generally do, Word does fine - I don't need

great
typography. However, it would be nice for narrow columns to look nice

to -
hence my question.

Unfortunately I don't really have an alternative at the moment.

Karl




  #7  
Old September 2nd, 2004, 04:53 AM
Robert
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Posts: n/a
Default

Greetings--
Expanded character spacing can be part of a style. If you make it part of
the document Normal style, it will be applied to all of it.
--
Cheers
Robert

On Wed, 1 Sep 2004 14:48:07 -0700, Karl Perry wrote:

"Robert" wrote in message
...
Greetings--
Maybe you could try using expanded character spacing.


Yeah - but that applies to all characters in a selection, and has to be
controlled manually. I'm looking for a setting that will make Word be

more
intelligent for an entire document so I don't have to do things by hand.

These are proposals, not brochures. They don't, in general, need to be a
typographer's dream - I just would prefer them not to be so much of a
nightmare.

Looks like I'm stuck with what Word gives us.

Karl

  #8  
Old September 2nd, 2004, 05:12 AM
Jezebel
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"Robert" wrote in message
...
Greetings--
Expanded character spacing can be part of a style. If you make it part of
the document Normal style, it will be applied to all of it.
--


That's why it doesn't help for this purpose.


  #9  
Old September 2nd, 2004, 09:00 AM
Robert
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Posts: n/a
Default

Greetings--
If you want to restrict expanded character spacing to a specific type of
paragraph, it is as easy to create any appropriate style with this feature
and apply it to the relevant paragraphs. Where is the problem?
I have personally used this trick quite successfully. It does serve this
purpose.
--
Cheers
Robert

On Thu, 2 Sep 2004 14:12:18 +1000, Jezebel wrote:

"Robert" wrote in message
...
Greetings--
Expanded character spacing can be part of a style. If you make it part

of
the document Normal style, it will be applied to all of it.
--


That's why it doesn't help for this purpose.

  #10  
Old September 2nd, 2004, 09:45 AM
Jezebel
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Posts: n/a
Default

The problem is that for typographic purposes the expansion is specific to
the *line* not the paragraph. One of the objectives in typography is to
minimise the variation in the width of the spaces between words. This can be
difficult if you are justifying to a narrow measure -- if there is just one
space within the line, it has to take up ALL the justification space for the
line. One typographic method for dealing with the problem is to cheat a
little and increase the character spacing *in that line* -- but not in other
lines in the same paragraph. Top-end typography programs do this
automatically.




"Robert" wrote in message
.. .
Greetings--
If you want to restrict expanded character spacing to a specific type of
paragraph, it is as easy to create any appropriate style with this feature
and apply it to the relevant paragraphs. Where is the problem?
I have personally used this trick quite successfully. It does serve this
purpose.
--
Cheers
Robert

On Thu, 2 Sep 2004 14:12:18 +1000, Jezebel wrote:

"Robert" wrote in message
...
Greetings--
Expanded character spacing can be part of a style. If you make it part

of
the document Normal style, it will be applied to all of it.
--


That's why it doesn't help for this purpose.



 




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