Words on top line in a frame breaking when using automatic line spacing

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Joy Hecht

I've been having weird problems with the first word at the top of a text frame being split across two lines.  After a lot of frustration I've realized that when you set your text to "automatic line spacing," the top of the text is exactly hitting the top of the text box frame, or even a bit above the frame.  Because the first letters in the frame must be on the top line, they appear there, as do any that are shorter than the first letters.  But as soon as another letter is tall, the system decides it doesn't fit and jumps it down the next line.  So if your first word in that text frame (text flowing from the previous frame) is "and," the "an" will be on the top line and the "d" will be on the next line.  If your first word is "Path," you will see "Pa" on the top line and "th" on the second.  If you stick an "a" before "Path," you will get "a" on the top line and "Path" on the second.

This doesn't happen with fixed line spacing or line spacing aligned with the grid.

See the attached three images for examples.  This is the masthead for a magazine, with three columns of text in the frame – you'll see the weird word breaks on all three columns when I use automatic line spacing, but none of it if I use fixed or align-to-grid line spacing.

I've just had to switch from 1.4.8 (on my old computer – very very old computer) to 1.5.8 on my new computer (MacBook Air with M2 chip, running Monterey), because (alas) 1.4.8 doesn't run on Monterey.  Is this a known 1.5.8 bug?  Anyone know what's going on here?  This definitely didn't happen on 1.4.8.

(Note - I originally posted this in the "layout" forum, and then realized it might really belong here.  So this is a repost.)

Biblio

Why don't you want to align the text with the baseline grid? It has the advantage of giving it a more consistent feel (especially since you have columns).

AdmFubar

Quote from: Joy Hecht on November 15, 2022, 04:14:45 AM
I've been having weird problems with the first word at the top of a text frame being split across two lines. 
This might be a long shot. You can add margins to your text frame,  select the frame, open the text properties window, and in the columns and text distances section you can add spacing in your column there. It might solve the issue you are having.
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