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

[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.

[utnik]

hi joy hecht

...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...

...Is this a known 1.5.8 bug?

yes, it is.
i just can't find exactly this problem in the bug tracker.
here are two related bug reports: 12862 and 9604.

i don't run into this issue, as it is at least very rare when using 'font ascent' for the 'first line offset'.

utnik

[Joy Hecht]

Thanks, that's interesting (read some of the bug reports).

Is "first line offset" when you indent the first line of a paragraph?  I never do that - but I leave space between paragraphs. (Just had a quick look at some magazines around me, and saw that they do indent first paragraph lines, but they don't leave space between paragraphs.)

What what is "font ascent?"

(Did I mention at the start of this that I'm not a very experienced Scribus user?  Also not a professional layout person - I use Scribus for a magazine that I volunteer on, and it only comes out 2x a year so I send to forget stuff from one issue to the next!)

[utnik]

hi jay hecht

you'll find the setting for the first line offset in 'text properties' → 'first line offset' – or even better in  'preferences' → 'item tools' → 'text' → 'first line offset'. tin all my use cases 'font ascent' is the best...

utnik

[Nermander]

Is "first line offset" when you indent the first line of a paragraph?

No, first line offset is how far from the top of the frame the first line is. Or rather much is added to the line height (when first line offset is zero, the baseline of the first line is line height down from the top).

What what is "font ascent?"

As far as I understand it is a font metric, it is the defined height of the font.

I did a quick google and this article has a picture that I think explains it well (though the article is not related to Scribus).
https://suragch.medium.com/meaning-of-top-ascent-baseline-descent-bottom-and-leading-in-androids-fontmetrics-c80cf019aef5