[Solved] Full justification word spacing issues

[bugjah]

Hi all

I have had this problem for ages and I've always suffered through it, but now I am finally posting about it -- in part to see if others are experiencing the same thing (since misery loves company), but with the hope that someone has a solution.

When I format a document to justify both right and left, the spacing between words is **usually** consistent within a line. In cases where a hanging word can make the gaps too long, I can add a hyphen in the hanging word and that usually soilves the issue.

Yet there are three cases I have seen where the line spacing all goes to $^*%

1) if there is a period in the sentence. The spacing after the period is often condensed relative to the spacing between other words
2) if part of the sentence is bolded. The spacing before or after the bolded words is different than the spacing between the non bolded words
3) some oddities that defy explanation. Where the spacing within words is sometimes screwed up.

An example of both 1 & 2 is the attachment called 1&2.png inserted here.

1&2.png (18.71 KiB) Viewed 1374 times

Note that the space between the words "the" and "S." is expanded-- I believe that has to do with the period after "S" (also could be the italics which can mess up spacing too). Note also that the spacing between "a" and "pilot" is severly contracted.

You'll have to take my word for it that there truly is one spacing between every word here, and that all are the same font base.

An example of 3 is in the attachment called 3.png inserted here

3.png (16.43 KiB) Viewed 1374 times

Look at the first word ("is") in the sentence with the odd space between the 'i' and the 's'! What is going on there?

To "solve" this problem I need to do things like (in this latter case) put 2 spaces after the word is and make those two spaces 6 point. This for whatever reason tricks the justification algorithm into spacing the words properly and it removes that space between the 'i' and the 's'.

If this is what it takes to solve the issue, so be it, but I feel like maybe there's a setting I could be adjusting in the character menu or something that will solve these spacing problems universally.

Thanks in advice for any help (or commiserations)!

best
bug

[Hagar Delest]

Can you upload a sample file (the .odt)? Just the excerpt showing the issue.
Are you sure there is no unbreakable space?

[bugjah]

Sure but first I just wanna show that it's actually worse than I thought

That first case was one where I already instituted that "fix" of inserting two 6 point spaces in place of a 11 point space, before the "S."

Here's what it looks like when it is one space between each word, all 11 point

1&2_worse.png (18.39 KiB) Viewed 1352 times

yikes, right?

[bugjah]

here's the sample odt

[RoryOF]

I have a memory of some strange happenings in detailed (character-level) formatting using Mac. The attached screen-shot shows what I get using Times New Roman 12 pt on OpenOffice 4.1.15 running on Xubuntu 22.04.4 LTS.

Screenshot_2024-02-26_20-27-42.jpg (34.75 KiB) Viewed 1330 times

[RoryOF]

Here is a screenshot of your actual file on Xubuntu etc as above. I have added the extra line and some nonsense as padding to fill the lines.

Screenshot_2024-02-26_20-47-18.jpg (33.21 KiB) Viewed 1300 times

[bugjah]

Thanks Rory

Interesting, so you suspect this is a Mac OS thing?

And speaking of which I just noticed that my footer needs to be updated! I am now running OpenOffice 4.1.15 on Mac OS 10.14.6

best
J

[MrProgrammer]

Yet there are three cases I have seen where the line spacing all goes to $^*%

1) if there is a period in the sentence. The spacing after the period is often condensed relative to the spacing between other words
2) if part of the sentence is bolded. The spacing before or after the bolded words is different than the spacing between the non bolded words
3) some oddities that defy explanation. Where the spacing within words is sometimes screwed up.

I find the spacing to be much better if I select all the text in your document and apply Format → Default Formatting, then create character styles for Bold and for Bold Italic and apply them to the relevant portions of the paragraph. This was created using AOO 4.1.7 Build 9800 on MacOS 13.6.3. I did not need to fix anything by inserting specially-fonted spaces. I have found that many problems vanish when using styles instead of Format → Paragraph or Format → Character.

202402261500.gif (58.34 KiB) Viewed 1291 times

And speaking of which I just noticed that my footer needs to be updated! I am now running OpenOffice 4.1.15 on Mac OS 10.14.6

Fix your forum signature in User Control Panel → Profile → Edit Signature.

If this solved your problem please go to your first post use the Edit ☐ button and add [Solved] to the start of the Subject field. Select the green checkmark icon at the same time.

[RoryOF]

I would follow MrProgrammer's comments, as he is an experienced Mac user.

I got the bold in my first example by applying Character Style Strong Emphasis. I applied Character Style Quotation to get the Italic, and selected the text and applied Bold (Direct Formatting - if I were working on such a document, I would modify or define a Character Style to give Bold and Italic, and make another Character Style to give Small Caps, instead of applying that as a Direct Formatting).

[Hagar Delest]

Well, I see nothing wrong with LO on my Xubuntu machine either:

LO_spacing.png (15.69 KiB) Viewed 1161 times

If you export to PDF, is it the same? It may be a glitch merely in the rendering.

[bugjah]

Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions

I really like the approach of applying formatting with character styles. I will investigate that approach which sounds like it could be the long term solution I'm looking for.

Just to respond to some of the other comments:

1) yes the PDF is messed up just as badly as the screen rendering within open office

2) I have fixed my signature, thank you!

I am adding a green check mark which I think (?) means solved issue!

Edit: You were close. The check mark and the [Solved] tag go in your initial post for the topic. I updated it for you -- MrProgrammer, forum moderator

[Hagar Delest]

Still, it seems strange to me.
Was the sample file the exact file used for your first screenshots?
If you still have such glitches, if you select the text and hit Ctrl+M to remove the direct formatting and reapply the formatting you want, does the problem occur again? Could it be a kerning parameter applied one way or another in some places?