Indentation issue with dropcaps following short paragraph

[biggnome]

I noticed the other day that following short paragraphs starting with a drop cap, subsequent paragraphs indent as normal, e.g., this--

\begin[papersize=a5]{document}
\use[module=packages/dropcaps]
\use[module=packages/lorem]

\dropcap{T}his is paragraph 1. \lorem

This is paragraph 2.

\bigskip

\dropcap{P}aragraph 3 here, large and in charge.

Paragraph 4. Oh dear…\lorem

\end{document}

--yields this--

Thoughts?

[Omikhleia]

Hello @biggnome

Indeed, the case where a paragraph is not long enough for a dropcap is not handled.

It would have needed other higher level mechanisms than the one provided using hang indent/after (= the mere TeX way) to reserve the space.

As far as concerned (having played a role in the initial implementation), I decided not to bother at the time :)

But there are several considerations were typographers disagree on how such a case should be handled...
E.g.

• Should the drop cap be reduced to the available lines, here just 1? (This is what LibreOffice does, for instance).
• Or should it encompass the next paragraph, but then how is considered the paragraph indent?
• Or should it just displace the next paragraph (introducing a blank line)

You won't find a definitive answer (for the very few typography books where this is even mentioned), I am afraid... I might be wrong, but I think it's kind of an edge case, where drop caps are not intended to be used, i.e. the very concept of drop caps assumes the paragraph has sufficient content.

I did make some experiments a while ago, but didn't came with a satisfying solution (i.e. however one looks at it, it's not nice visually and it probably reflects bad typography, in my opinion). I might still have the code somewhere on my other computer, I will check it when possible, but I am not sure it can be made general.

[Omikhleia]

Complements:

• Another tricky consideration occurs when a paragraph skip is used between paragraphs....

• Although technically not a drop cap, Bible typesetting faces this type of issue too, where the verse chapter is usually "dropped":

  

  It's not uninteresting to check how short verse paragraphs are handled. Hint: it may differ between books, e.g. regular books vs. Psalms, etc.

[Omikhleia]

Since this is a "per-design" limitation, I am moving this issue to Q&A discussions. It could still be interesting to discuss and find a general approach that would be typographically sound (which can then lead to a curated issue and/or PR).

[Omikhleia]

Random finding of a case in a book where the first paragraph is too short.

(Bunyan, le Voyage du pèlerin, i.e. The Pilgrim's Progress)

[Omikhleia]

For the record and interested readers, I experimented the above solution (propagation of the indent to the next paragraph(s) with some satisfying result:

The implementation is currently in a branch of the experimental silex.sile module. I'll likely merge it to the main branch by the end of the month. EDIT: It's merged.

[Omikhleia]

Oh, and with @biggnome 's own test case:

BTW, to be more complete on the matter, of course things don't go that well visually if there are paragraph skips...

[alerque]

I really like this. Somehow I missed your The Pilgrim's Progress example above whet it was posted, but that's a very elegant handling of something that might have otherwise limited the layout to a much smaller dropcap size. I could have used that on at least one project were the author was too fond of short paragraphs.