Typst Marginalia: Disable Hyphenation And Justification

by Admin 56 views
Typst Marginalia: Disable Hyphenation and Justification

Hey guys! Let's dive into a cool trick for customizing your Typst documents. Today, we're tackling a common issue: how to disable hyphenation and justification specifically for those handy margin notes. If you're like me and love adding extra info in the margins, you'll appreciate this. A user ran into a snag while trying to format their margin notes and shared their experience, which led to this neat solution. So, let's break it down and make your marginalia look even better!

The Marginalia Magic

First off, let's give credit where it's due: marginalia in Typst is seriously awesome. It's a fantastic way to add extra context, explanations, or even just cool side notes to your documents. One user was using it to add thematic context to block quotations, which is a brilliant idea. Here’s how they were setting it up:

<img width="943" height="125" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/849f63e5-efb9-4ea1-a985-4b00ef34168d" />

However, they noticed that with limited margin space, the default hyphenation and justification weren't doing their notes any favors. The notes looked a bit cramped and messy. The goal? To make those margin notes look cleaner by disabling hyphenation and aligning the text to the left. This is where things get interesting. When dealing with text formatting in tight spaces like margins, clarity becomes key. Disabling hyphenation ensures that words don't break awkwardly, which can improve readability. Left-aligning the text provides a neat, consistent look that's easier on the eyes. These adjustments can significantly enhance the visual appeal and professionalism of your document. Plus, when the margins are less cluttered, the main content stands out even more, creating a harmonious balance between primary and supplementary information. It's all about making the reader's experience as smooth and enjoyable as possible. So, let's explore how to achieve this formatting magic in Typst!

The Initial Attempt and the Problem

The user's first instinct was to create a function to set the text and paragraph styles. Here’s the code they tried:

#let aside(body) = {
  set text(hyphenate: false)
  set par(justify: false)
  note(numbering: none, text-style: (size: 0.8em))[#body]
}

This seems logical, right? Disable hyphenation and justification within the aside function. Unfortunately, this approach had a side effect. While it did turn off hyphenation, the set par command ended up adding an extra paragraph break to the main content. Oops! This is a classic example of how global settings can unintentionally affect other parts of your document. When you use set text and set par in Typst, you're essentially changing the default styles for the entire document, unless you scope those changes carefully. The user noticed this interference with their quotation, but the same issue would occur with regular paragraphs as well. This is because the set par command introduces a new paragraph style that conflicts with the existing one in the main content. To avoid such issues, it's crucial to find a way to apply formatting changes specifically to the marginal notes without affecting the rest of the document. This is where the concept of localized styling comes into play, which we'll explore in the next section. So, let's figure out how to tweak those margin notes without causing chaos elsewhere!

Here’s what the result looked like with the extra paragraph break:

<img width="924" height="406" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/b2c8a9ae-f2b5-4c7b-a2f1-0117c0f41cf5" />

Diving into the Code and Finding a Solution

The user then did some detective work, which is always a great approach. They searched the Typst code for set par and discovered that the par-style settings were being applied. This led to an insightful suggestion: What if we could add hyphenate to text-style and justify to par-style? This way, we could customize the styles more granularly. This is a fantastic idea! By extending the customization options for text-style and par-style, Typst users would have much finer control over the appearance of their marginal notes. This level of customization is essential for achieving the perfect look and feel in your documents. Think about it: you might want your main text to be fully justified with hyphenation enabled for a polished, formal look, but prefer your margin notes to be left-aligned and free of hyphens for better readability in the limited space. This flexibility allows you to tailor the typography to suit the specific context, ensuring that your document is both visually appealing and easy to read. Plus, granular control over styles makes it easier to maintain consistency throughout your document, as you can define specific styles for different elements and apply them uniformly. So, the user's suggestion to add hyphenate and justify to the style settings is a game-changer for anyone who wants to fine-tune their Typst documents. Let's explore how this could work in practice!

The proposed solution looks like this:

#let note = note.with(
  text-style: (hyphenate: false),
  par-style: (justify: false),
)

This approach is much cleaner and more targeted. It modifies the note function directly, ensuring that only the margin notes are affected. Let's break down why this works so well. The note.with syntax is a powerful feature in Typst that allows you to create a modified version of an existing function or style. In this case, we're taking the default note function and customizing it specifically for our needs. By setting text-style: (hyphenate: false), we're telling Typst to disable hyphenation for any text within the margin notes. Similarly, par-style: (justify: false) instructs Typst to left-align the text by disabling justification. The beauty of this method is that it's localized. The changes we're making only apply to the note function, leaving the rest of your document untouched. This is crucial for maintaining consistency and avoiding unexpected formatting issues. Imagine the headache of having to track down rogue style changes throughout a long document! By using note.with, we're keeping our modifications contained and predictable. This approach also aligns with the best practices of modular and maintainable code. When you encapsulate style changes within specific functions or elements, it becomes much easier to understand, modify, and debug your Typst code. So, not only does this solution solve the immediate problem of hyphenation and justification in margin notes, but it also promotes a more organized and efficient way of working with Typst.

The Benefits of this Approach

Using note.with to modify the styles offers several advantages:

  • Specificity: It targets only the margin notes, avoiding unintended changes elsewhere.
  • Clarity: The code is easy to read and understand.
  • Maintainability: Changes are localized, making it easier to manage styles in larger documents.
  • Flexibility: You can easily customize other aspects of the margin notes as needed.

This method aligns perfectly with Typst's philosophy of providing powerful yet flexible tools for document creation. By allowing granular control over styles, Typst empowers users to create documents that are both visually appealing and semantically sound. Think about the possibilities this opens up! You could create different styles for various types of margin notes – perhaps one for citations, another for definitions, and a third for general commentary. Each style could have its own unique typography, spacing, and even visual cues like background colors or borders. This level of customization allows you to create a rich and informative reading experience for your audience. Moreover, the ability to define styles at a granular level promotes consistency across your document. Instead of manually tweaking the appearance of each margin note, you can simply apply the appropriate style and know that it will look exactly as you intended. This not only saves time and effort but also ensures a polished and professional final product. So, the benefits of this approach extend far beyond just disabling hyphenation and justification – it's about unlocking the full potential of Typst's styling capabilities.

Final Thoughts

So, if you've been struggling with hyphenation and justification in your Typst margin notes, give this solution a try. It's a simple yet effective way to get your marginalia looking just right. Huge thanks to the user who brought up this issue and proposed such a clever solution! It's these kinds of community contributions that make Typst such a fantastic tool. This example also highlights the importance of understanding how styling works in Typst. By grasping the concepts of localized styling and the with function, you can take full control of your document's appearance. Remember, the goal is to create a document that is not only informative but also visually engaging. Well-formatted margin notes can add a layer of depth and richness to your writing, making it more accessible and enjoyable for your readers. So, don't be afraid to experiment with different styles and find what works best for you. And, of course, always share your discoveries with the community – you never know who you might help! Now, go forth and create some beautifully formatted documents!