huge spaces after appyling h&j 1

[james23f]

I have pre-established a huge number of h&j settings, some supposedly tight. min:60 optimum:70 max:80, others looser: min:95, opt:100, max: 115.

But I´m still getting huge gaps in my text, too many to correct manually across all pages.

My editor, who knows little about design and less about Quark, is requiring huge blocks of tight text. Lean on whitespace.

Any tricks, free Xtensions, etc.?

 

[tonyeastwood]

What are the other settings in H&J?
You may have something checked on not checked which is causing the gaps.
Also, what font are you using and at what point size?
What are your column widths? and any other information you can give... text box, tracking, horizontal scale etc. Have you custom kerned the font?
I suspect there is something set which is causing this problem... though I would guess you have checked most...
I will try and replicate what you are doing and let you know the results and optimum settings.
Oh, and what H&J set do you have selected within paragraph format?

And the version of Quark too would help...

Regards

Tony

 

[james23f]

Thanks, Tony. I'm using QuarkXpress 5.0. It's a closed A4 size publication. (Folded sheets of A3). Since I'm not at work, I don't have the exact width of the columns. But it's easy to figure out: The master guides are set to four columns with a 0.25" gutter.

The four-columns spreads use those guides. There are also several two-column stories that extend over three of the four master columns.

Font sizes are 9 or 10 point Times News Roman and Palatino LinoType.

H and J settings have ranged from:

Min. 40 Opt 50 Max 60, some with zero character space others with 2 percent max; to Min 95, Opt 100, Max 105, again with zero character space or 2 percent; to Min 85, Opt 133, Max 170, with zero character space.

I have more than 12 settings, and they do affect the text they are applied to. But they don't affect it as much as they should. Stop me if I'm wrong, but if I tell Quark that it may not insert space between words wider than say 60 percent of a normal space, shouldn't it not put in a space wider than 60 percent of a normal space?

I know it must be something wrong with the default settings. Or something. Anyway, I'm running out of time and about ready to pull my hair out.

 

[afral]

I created a test doc using A4, not knowing the size of A3. The factory settings are:
SPACE MIN=85 OPT=110 MAX=250
CHAR =0% =0% =4%

You might reduce the hypenation zone to .062" or use ragged right instead of justification. Quark is not known for it's ability to justify well. Let freedom ring!

 

[james23f]

I definitely can't leave it ragged right, but I'll try playing around with the hyphenation zone. Right now, the zone is set to 0, which means that theoretically Quark has my permission to hyphenate any word at the end of a line, as long as it meets the "characters before, characters after" criteria. Right?

Actually, if I were to increase the zone, what would that effectively do? Does that increase the hyphenation that might take place, or reduce it?

 

[tonyeastwood]

OKay... and the following is not something I would normally do... I have edited very large documents manually because, as Afral said, Quark isn't that good with justified text and when then rivers start flowing, it is sometimes the only way to get an attractive layout. This is often impossible because of time constraints, but showing a client an example of a good setting versus a setting which has to be rushed can often convince them to allow you more time. Personally, I have given free time to clients because I wasn't prepared to put my name to shoddy work.

H&J settings using Times NR at 9pt.
Doc settings
A4 - .5" margins/.25" gutters over 4 columns

Auto Hyphenation - checked
Smallest Word - 6
Minimum before - 3
Minimum after - 2
Break capitalised words - checked (not a good thing and you may want to edit these manually)
Space : 85 / 100 / 105
Character: minus 5 / 0 / 5
0 flush zone
Single word justify - unchecked

oh yes, and hyphens in a row set to '1'
and 0 for hyphenation zone.

This gives a justified setting which, to my mind, is a little on the tight side. You can track it out slightly if you must, but no more than +2.

I didn't try it with Palatino and only tested at 9pt.

See how you get on.

Regards

Tony

 

[james23f]

Thanks, Tony. Settings worked great, even at a 10 point font. Allowing for character spacing, which I hadn't allowed before, was the key.

Regards,

James