widows and orphans

Widows and Orphans

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ADVICE: You should only worry with Widows and Orphans in the provisional or final document!

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Definition of “Widows and Orphans” in typesetting, by the The Chicago Manual of Style:

• Widow — A paragraph-ending line that falls at the beginning of the following page or column, thus separated from the rest of the text. Mnemonically, a widow is “alone at the top” (of the family tree but, in this case, of the page).
• Orphan — A paragraph-opening line that appears by itself at the bottom of a page or column, thus separated from the rest of the text. Mnemonically, an orphan is “alone at the bottom” (of the family tree but, in this case, of the page). Alternately, a word, part of a word, or very short line that appears by itself at the end of a paragraph. Mnemonically still “alone at the bottom”, just this time at the bottom of a paragraph. Orphans of this type give the impression of too much white space between paragraphs.

How to avoid Widows and Orphans in LaTeX and the NOVAthesis template?

In file Config/5_packahes.tex add

\usepackage[OPTION]{widows-and-orphans}

where OPTION can be either:

• avoid-all — LaTeX will do its best to avoid Widows and Orphans;
• prevent-all — LaTeX will try harder to avoid Widows and Orphans, which may cause some unwanted results (use with care); and
• <EMPTY/NOTHING> — LaTeX will leave Widows and Orphans alone, but will issue warnings in the file template.log! Search for “Package widows-and-orphans Warning”.