Bottom margin vs. descenders question

[Axel E. Retif]

Phil,


> So, how to achieve some combination of 
> baseline/beardline/descenders/parentheses/margins is not at issue —
> the issue is only to decide what intrusion (if any) into the margin
> area is sanctioned by "good practice".

I think many of us agree that descenders should not be considered as an 
intrusion into the lower margin set by the baseline of the last line of 
the page; that is the *visual* text box, which is what matters because 
is what the reader sees.

The *actual* text box (in movable type, Linotype or TeX) is bigger; for 
example, one can not say we want a text box of 42 picas (504 points) in 
height and a baselineskip of 13 points (that would mean 38.769... 
lines): either you have a box of 494 points (41.167 picas) to get 38 
lines, or 507 points (42.25 picas) for 39 lines; the latter will give 
you about 42 picas of *visual* height to the baseline.

As for the parentheses in McKenna's specific example, I think they are 
unacceptable at the bottom of page or in the middle of the page. If the 
article was typeset in TeX or LaTeX as McKenna thinks, the solution is 
in The TeXbook, p. 149.


Best

Axel