Hyphenation on Demand

PETR SOJKA
Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
sojka@muni.cz

Abstract:  The need to fully automate the batch typesetting process increases with the use of TEX as the engine for dynamic documents which, in turns, leads to the need for programmable hyphenation and line-breaking of the highest quality.

An overview of approaches for building custom hyphenation patterns is provided, along with examples. A methodology of the process is given, combining different approaches: one based on morphology and hand-made patterns, and one based on wordlists and program patgen. The method aims at modular, easily maintainable, efficient and portable hyphenation. The bag of tricks used in the process to develop custom hyphenation is described.

The presentation may be reworked into a half-day tutorial aimed at the following types of audiences:

Publishers:

to help them solve their problems with hyphenation by showing how to create in-house hyphenation patterns

TEX practitioners:

to examine the possibilities that the eTEX system offers in the areas of hyphenation and line-breaking