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A chapter has a full-page image at the end, and its last paragraph overflows two lines to a new page. How to make the last line stays in the bottom of a page so that there's no almost blank page before the image? Shrinking just a page is fine, but I think shrinking the whole chapter will leave no trace.

Let's say the two orphan lines are in page 2, and the image is in page 3, and I want the orphan lines is in page 1, and only the image is in page 2. Putting \pagebreak or \clubpenalty=10000 on the last line doesn't work. There's no paragraph with short last line to use \looseness=-1. Using \enlargethispage{2\baselineskip} the orphan lines and the image are both in page 2. The image then overflows the bottom margin of page 2.

Ooker
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  • @Ooker I would only change the inter-line spacing as a last resort, is there no inter-paragraph or section spacing in the chapter that can be reduced instead, or a long paragraph you can set with \looseness=-1 so it takes one less line? – David Carlisle Dec 13 '17 at 19:04
  • I do not understand your comment \enlargethispage{2\baselineskip} doesn't really shrink the text, just makes the image not flush to the next page. I'd like to have it on its own page alone. If you use that command on the page before you show, the two lines of text will stay on that page and the image will be on a page on its own, which is what you say you want to happen? – David Carlisle Dec 13 '17 at 19:07
  • @DavidCarlisle maybe it's my broken English? Let's say the two orphan lines are in page 2, and the image is in page 3. Using that command the orphan lines and the image are both in page 2. I want the orphan lines is in page 1, and only the image is in page 2. – Ooker Dec 13 '17 at 19:17
  • @Ooker it sounds like you put the command in the wrong place. your image shows two lines of text at the top of a page. If you make the previous page two lines longer that text will go to the previous page leaving the image on the page shown, but with no text above it – David Carlisle Dec 13 '17 at 19:24
  • @DavidCarlisle why would you only change the inner-line spacing as a last resort? Isn't \setstretch reducing inter-paragraph spacing? And where would you put the commands you say in the last comment? – Ooker Dec 14 '17 at 01:49
  • the idea is to adjust things so the reader doesn't notice, but the eye is very sensitive to changes in linespacing, it changes the colour (greyness) of the page. You can not change it mid-paragraph so most likely you will end up with two different linespacings on facing pages, which is like a poke in the eye. – David Carlisle Dec 14 '17 at 07:40
  • It is hard to say exactly where to put \enlargethispage as you have shown no code, but basically your text is two lines two long to fit in the pages so find two facing pages earlier and make them each one line longer with \enlargethispage{\baselineskip} then the final two lines that you show at the top of your image should end on the page earlier, leaving the image on its own. – David Carlisle Dec 14 '17 at 07:40
  • also you do not need a paragraph with short last line to use looseness, just a long enough paragraph (say 10 lines or so) – David Carlisle Dec 14 '17 at 07:42

1 Answers1

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The amount of space left on the last page of a chapter is heavily dependent on the entire chapter content. Here are some options to reduce the lines used on the last page:

  1. It may be feasible to identify certain paragraphs within the chapter can be shortened by a single line. For this you can attempt setting \looseness=-1; inter-word spacing will be reduced, making some paragraphs appear tighter than others. However, this might not be a problem and also depends on the paragraph content.

    See Which choice of line-breaking parameters gives the minimum number of lines.

  2. Considering the entire chapter, you may want to reduce the baseline skip by a fraction. That means, all the lines will be closer together (vertically) and could provide some pages with additional room for another line of text. For this one could attempt:

    \usepackage{setspace}
\setstretch{0.95}% Play around with a number here that is close to 1

  3. You may also play around with other lengths that affect the spacing around large constructions, like sectional units or floats. See Reducing spacing after headings and/or Remove space after figure and before text.

Werner
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