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Controlling page breaks

Web documents are generally meant for viewing with a browser, not printing on paper. As a result, when you print Web documents, the pages often break in awkward places. Fortunately, Namo WebEditor includes several features that help you control how page breaks will occur when you print a document:

  • You can view and edit a document in page layout mode, which shows the document as it would appear if printed within Namo WebEditor (in the current font, font size, and paper size). This lets you identify potential pagination problems.
  • You can insert manual page breaks. By inserting a manual page break at an appropriate place above the location where an undesirable automatic page break would occur, you can override the automatic break.
  • You can force a page break before or after a specific paragraph, and you can prevent a page break before, after, or inside a specific paragraph.
  • You can control the behavior of widows and orphans—single lines that fall just before or after an automatic page break and are thus visually separated from the paragraphs to which they belong. You can prevent these unsightly occurences by specifying that a certain number of lines in a paragraph must fall before or after an automatic page break.

Namo Web Editor icon note Controlling page breaksYou should use manual or forced page breaks only to control how a document prints in Namo WebEditor. Since other people who view your document in a browser may print it in a different font, font size, and/or paper size from the one you used, it is not possible to predict the effect of any manual or forced page breaks you have inserted in the document.

In page layout view, Namo WebEditor displays your document as it would look if printed in Namo WebEditor. Dashed red lines appear wherever automatic page breaks would occur. If a page break occurs in an awkward position, you can insert a manual page break at an appropriate location before it, overriding the automatic page break. Manual page breaks are visible as solid red lines.

Namo Web Editor 2.document.print.1.1 Controlling page breaks

Part of a document in page layout mode

To switch to page layout view
  • On the View menu, go to the Display group and click Page Layout.
Namo Web Editor icon reveal Controlling page breaksTo insert a manual page break
  1. Place the insertion point in the line above which you want the manual page break to occur.
  2. Press Ctrl+Enter.

There are some things you should be aware of when you insert a manual page break with Ctrl+Enter:

  • If you insert a manual page break in the middle of a paragraph, the paragraph will be split into two paragraphs. As a result, some empty space will appear above the line where you insert the break, and this space will be visible in a browser. To avoid this space, set both the bottom margin of the upper paragraph and the top margin of the lower paragraph to 0. (See “Setting margins, padding, and borders“.)
  • If you insert a manual page break while the insertion point is in the first line of a paragraph, Namo WebEditor will insert an empty paragraph above the break. You should delete this empty paragraph to avoid the empty space it creates, which is visible both in a browser and in print.
  • If you insert a manual page break within an item in a numbered or bulleted list, a new list item will be created. To avoid this, insert the page break above a list item and then delete the extra item that is created.
Namo Web Editor icon reveal Controlling page breaksTo force a page break before or after a paragraph
  1. Place the insertion point anywhere in the desired paragraph.
  2. On your custom toolbar, go to the Page Break menu and click Page Break Properties. If the Page Break menu is not visible, add it to the toolbar by opening the Customize dialog box, going to the Commands tab, selecting Format from the Categories list and then selecting Page Break from the Commands list.
  3. Depending on whether you want to force a page break before or after the paragraph, click one of the following options under either Page break before or Page break after:
    • Always: Click this option to force a normal page break.
    • Left: Click this option to force one or two page breaks before (after) the paragraph, so that the next page is printed as a left page.
    • Right: Click this option to force one or two page breaks before (after) the paragraph, so that the next page is printed as a right page.
  4. Click OK.
Namo Web Editor icon reveal Controlling page breaksTo prevent a page break before, after, or inside a paragraph
  1. Place the insertion point anywhere in the desired paragraph.
  2. On your custom toolbar, go to the Page Break menu and click Page Break Properties. If the Page Break menu is not visible, add it to the toolbar by opening the Customize dialog box, going to the Commands tab, selecting Format from the Categories list and then selecting Page Break from the Commands list.
  3. Click the Avoid option under Page break before, Page break inside, and/or Page break after.
  4. Click OK.
Namo Web Editor icon reveal Controlling page breaksTo restore default (automatic) page break behavior for a paragraph
  1. Place the insertion point anywhere in the desired paragraph.
  2. On your custom toolbar, go to the Page Break menu and click Page Break Properties. If the Page Break menu is not visible, add it to the toolbar by opening the Customize dialog box, going to the Commands tab, selecting Format from the Categories list and then selecting Page Break from the Commands list.
  3. Click the Auto option under Page break before, Page break inside, and/or Page break after.
  4. Click OK.
Namo Web Editor icon reveal Controlling page breaksTo control widows and orphans
  1. Do one of the following:
    • If you are specifying widow/orphan settings for one paragraph, place the insertion point in that paragraph.
    • If you are specifying settings for multiple (adjacent) paragraphs, select the paragraphs.
  2. On your custom toolbar, go to the Page Break menu and click Widow and Orphan Control. If the Page Break menu is not visible, add it to the toolbar by opening the Customize dialog box, going to the Commands tab, selecting Format from the Categories list and then selecting Page Break from the Commands list.
  3. To prevent widows, click Prevent widows and then specify the minimum number of lines of a paragraph that must fall before a page break.
  4. To prevent orphans, click Prevent orphans and then specify the minimum number of lines of a paragraph that must fall after a page break.
  5. Click OK.

Controlling page breaks