5 ms·
why does almost no word processor implement this algorithm? In TeX the line breaking depends on the whole paragraph. I imagine it could be visually quite distr
by imurray 17y ago
why does almost no word processor implement this algorithm?
In TeX the line breaking depends on the whole paragraph. I imagine it could be visually quite distracting if the line-wrapping jumped around in a WYSIWYG word processor as you added text to a paragraph.
Edit: ah. I see this is noted in the posted article’s To-do section:
Figure out how to deal with dynamic paragraphs (i.e. paragraphs being edited) as their ratios will change during editing and thus visibly move around.
- patrickg 17y agoWhat about a menu (ribbon) item called "apply very nice typography to your document" which recalculates/reformats the paragraphs? Would this be a solution?
- imurray 17y agoMaybe. But there are probably all sorts of annoying details to deal with. For example, the pagination of the document could change, and so that would lead to further editing to fix it. Then how does line-breaking work during that editing phase, or in general after applying the menu item? I don’t actually use a WYSIWYG editor any more, so I’ll leave my speculation there.
- yan 17y agoThis is exactly why I prefer authoring documents in LaTeX vs WYSIWYG tools: I can concentrate on semantics and not worry about representation. Writing stuff in Word forces you to be distracted by its appearance on the page and can drive me crazy with micro-adjustments. With LaTeX, I just write the document and the computer does what computers are good at doing.
- bodhi 17y ago> I just write the document and the computer does what computers are good at doing. Which is: Interpret your instructions very literally, so you still need to go over your document carefully to fix problems like urls running off the edge of the page? Smart-arse joke aside, I agree with you that LaTeX is generally great, but it's not perfect, and sometimes it is difficult to make it do what you want.
- jacobolus 17y agoTry editing paragraphs in InDesign. In practice, it’s really not much of an issue, because paragraphs don’t actually jump around all that much, and to the extent that they do, it’s really not particularly distracting.
- bramstein 17y agoI tried it in Photoshop which since CS2 (or so) has an implementation of the Knuth & Plass algorithm. I found it quite distracting myself. Granted, I was on the lookout for text jumping around and had hyphenation disabled.