Jean-Marc Lasgouttes writes:
> >>>>> "Barry" == Barry Kauler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>
> Barry> The problem is that the figure that is moved to the middle of
> Barry> the next page is not big enough to fill the whole page. This
> Barry> leaves gaps above and below. I experimented and found that a
> Barry> fairly small figure can be in this situation, that is, it won't
> Barry> fit on the current page because of another big figure above it.
> Barry> For a book, these large white spaces are not good. Surely Lyx
> Barry> could be modified to place the figure at the top of the next
> Barry> page with text below.
>
> Again: this is controled by the Float Placement option of
> Layout->Document. Did you read section 4.1.3.2 of User's Guide???
(Presumably you mean section 4.3.1.2 of the Guide)
This may not be a problem just with float placement specifiers. This sounds
like it may be a problem with the default values of \topfraction,
\textfraction, \topnumber, etc. in the the standard document classes. The
default values are not always condusive to good float placement and I hazard
a guess that the only way to modify them when using lyx is by placing guff
in the document preamble - probably something that only a LaTeX expert will
be able to do.
Furthermore the documentation in the LyX user guide is a little misleading.
It claims that LaTeX will try the float placement specifiers in the order
specified. That is not necessarily true. If I remember correctly (I don't
have the relevant documentation at hand) an 'h' specifier, if given, is
always tried first before any other specifiers. Furthermore, LaTeX may in
some cases add an extra specifier if what you specified is totally silly
(sorry, I can't remember the exact details to that one).
In conclusion, the lyx docmentation is not sufficient to educate users on
how to produce good float placement in all documents, and lyx, itself, does
not provide the mechanisms (other than inserting LaTeX in the preamble) for
users to achieve good float placement in all documents. To do so requires
knowledge and modification of the LaTeX float parameters (such as
\topfraction).
Michael
