RE: Workaround for annoying 'empty paragraph' space after text insets

["Richard Combs" <richard.combs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Echoing an earlier post by Joan Goldstein, Hedley Finger wrote:

> When you import a text inset by reference, it always has an 'extra
> paragraph' after it.  Onscreen, you can see the final end-of-para char
> (blind Peter) and then the end-of-para char of the paragraph 
> holding the
> text inset.
> 
> This adds an extra one-paragraph space below the inset.  A while ago
> someone posted a hack to remove this unwanted space.

The problem may have been solved Shlomo Perets' suggestion of a run-in
head and reminder that inter-paragraph space is the larger of the first
pgf's space below and the second's space above. But permit me to
pedantically elaborate because... that's the way I am. :-)

The "extra paragraph" isn't really extra; it makes logical sense when
you think about it. When you import a text inset, you're placing it at a
cursor location, a point in the text flow. The entire text inset is
"contained" in the paragraph where that point is located. Most people
import it into an empty paragraph, but that isn't necessary (but, see
below). Unless the "container" paragraph is a run-in head, it ends with
a CR, LF, or CR/LF (depending on platform) -- a paragraph break. 

Well, the inset (of necessity, since it's an entire flow) also ends at
the end of a paragraph. So, unless _that_ paragraph is a run-in head,
you have two paragraph breaks in succession. 

You _could_ eliminate the extra space by eliminating the empty
"container" paragraph, so the inset "sits" at the beginning of the
following text. But, FM has a quirk (bug?) that may make this
impractical: When you update your newly-imported text inset, the
"container" paragraph in which it sits takes on the pgf format of the
first paragraph within the inset. 

This quirk can cause problems even if the "container" paragraph is
empty. If your text inset (source flow) begins with an 18 pt. Head1 set
to start at top of page, it'll be _followed_ by such a Head1 (the
"container" pgf). If you have View>Text Symbols turned off (how do
people work that way?), you'll wonder where that page break came from. 

For this reason, I begin all source flows for text insets with a special
"spacer" paragraph. My section heading is always part of the destination
document, not the text inset source (this also simplifies xrefs and
indexing, since the markers can be maintained in the destination, not
the text insets). My "spacer" adds 7 pts, but you can make it zero if
you want, using Shlomo's advice. 

I'll stop now, since that's probably more than you ever wanted to know
about text inset spacing. ;-)

HTH!
Richard


------
Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Voyant Technologies, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT voyanttechDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT freeDASHmarketDOTnet
303-777-0436
------








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