Spacingwith

Spacingwith is a term used in typesetting and digital typography to describe a technique for controlling the spacing around the word with in justified text. The aim is to improve line breaks, rhythm, and readability by applying targeted spacing adjustments at boundaries where the word with appears, particularly in languages and documents that frequently use long noun phrases.

Definition and scope: It is not a universal property of fonts, but a layout strategy implemented by paragraph composition algorithms. Spacingwith may involve increasing or decreasing word spacing adjacent to the word with, and sometimes applying kerning or tracking around that token to reduce hyphenation risk and to balance line lengths.

Methods: Layout systems implement spacingwith through conditional spacing rules. Examples include expanding the space before with in short lines to avoid cramped endings, or reducing spacing after with when that word ends a line to prevent underfull lines. It can be applied locally within a line or across a paragraph depending on the justification model.

Applications and examples: Spacingwith is used in editorial layouts, academic publishing, and multilingual dictionaries where phrases containing with are common. It helps maintain consistent optical spacing and reduces raggedness at line ends.

Limitations: The technique depends on the typesetting engine and fonts; excessive application can produce visible inconsistencies. It must be tested for accessibility and readability and should not compromise text emphasis or ligatures.

See also: spacing, kerning, tracking, justification, typography.