How to vertically center content in ConTeXt?

Question

I would like to vertically center my title page. I have tried code like this, but it does not work:

\vfill
\startalignment[center]
    Title
\stopalignment
\vfill

I am using ConTeXt, so the solutions at Vertically center text on a page did not work, however, solutions in plain TeX will be fine too.
The documentation on \setupalign at the ConTeXt wiki suggests there might be the option lohi, but it seems only to center content vertically when placed inside a frame.

How can I vertically center content on a page?

Have you tried makeup which is the standard method to write title pages in ConTeXt — Aditya, May 06 '12 at 04:29
You are missing a \dontleavehmode immediately before the first \vfill. It is required because the top of a page is a special situation in vmode. — Philipp Gesang, May 06 '12 at 07:43

score 16 · Accepted Answer · answered May 06 '12 at 12:03

16

As Aditya already answered, the most common way is to use \startstandardmakeup, as in:

\starttext
\startstandardmakeup
\startalignment[center] % or \centerline{...}
    {\definedfont[Bold at 40pt] Title}
\stopalignment
\stopstandardmakeup
document text
\stoptext

answered May 06 '12 at 12:03

Mojca Miklavec

1,771

2

Don't use explicit align macros. You can use: \setupmakeup[align=middle]. – Aditya May 07 '12 at 01:06
@Aditya Could you explain why not to use explicit align macros? I am an absolute ConTeXt beginner. – Serge Stroobandt Sep 01 '13 at 18:31
2

@SergeStroobandt: Because it is bad style. I will prefer using \starttitlepagemakeup Title \stoptitlepagemakeup rather than what is described in the solution (where titlepage makeup is appropriately defined). – Aditya Sep 01 '13 at 18:44
@SergeStroobandt: To give an analogy, it will be a bad style in LaTeX to use \section{\itseries First section}. It is better to move the formatting setup in the preamble and use semantic markup in the document body. – Aditya Sep 01 '13 at 18:46
this only horizontally centers my text :c – xeruf Aug 29 '22 at 18:49

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 29 '15 at 23:31

0

Maybe it's a hack, but in my code this always works: place a \phantom{x} before the \vfill to get the desired effect.

answered Jan 29 '15 at 23:31

Rob Heusdens

101

1

This is a brutal hack! (1) You shouldn't do this, (2) if you decide to to this use at least \leavevmode\vfill instead of \phantom{x}\vfill. – Henri Menke Aug 05 '16 at 07:34
@HenriMenke, I know it's quite an old answer (and comment), I'm wondering why one option is preferable to the other. – Jan 21 '19 at 17:21

How to vertically center content in ConTeXt?

2 Answers2

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