graphicshorizontal alignment
I have 2 questions:
I am trying to center a figure in LaTeX, but above a certain size it just starts at the left margin and goes beyond the right. How can I make it actually center, so the amount it goes over the left margin is the same as the right?
Some short lines justify to fill the whole page width, which makes it look really bad. Is there a way I can fix these lines, or maybe set the width for justification to be considered?
Thanks in advance.
You are most likely loading a package or manually setting the value of \parfillskip. The definition of \parfillskip, from TeX for the Impatient (section on Shaping paragraphs, p 111):
This parameter specifies the horizontal glue that TEX inserts at the end of a paragraph. The default value of
\parfillskipis0pt plus 1fil, which causes the last line of a paragraph to be filled out with blank space. A value of0ptforces TEX to end the last line of a paragraph at the right margin.
As an example, this is the effect:
\documentclass{article}
\newcommand{\fourscore}{\noindent Four score and seven years ago our fathers
brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty,
and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.\par}
\begin{document}
\fourscore
\setlength{\parfillskip}{0pt}
\fourscore
\end{document}
So, restoring it can either be done by finding the "offending" package, or adding
\setlength{\parfillskip}{0pt plus 1fil}
to your preamble. Without more information, it's difficult to assess how else to fix the problem.
You should use \caption and let LaTeX number the tables rather than using \centerline and numbering by hand.
\large does not take an argument so \large{something} makes all the following text large, including the table.
You should never use [h] Just using [h] on its own is really an error; LaTeX issues a warning and changes it to [th] but even then it makes it very likely the table goes to the end of the document as it disallows p positioning (float pages).
Finally You provide an example that shows the problem you have. c columns are like \mbox and single line you want p columns that allow line breaking to a specified width. Then the columns are narrower and the table fits on a page and can be centred. Note changing c to p was one of the suggestions in the linked question about making a table smaller.
\documentclass[a4paper, 12pt]{article}
\author{My Name}
\setlength\parindent{0pt}
\addtolength{\topmargin}{-1in}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}
\centering
Something:
\caption{blah blah}
\smallskip
\begin{tabular}{c c}
\hline
1 & 2 \\
3 & 4 \\
5 & 6 \\
7 & 8 \\
\end{tabular}
\caption{blah blah}
\smallskip
\begin{tabular}{p{3cm} p{3cm}}
\hline
This is a very long text and it goes over the edge & and I can not figure out how to align it at the center \\
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
\end{document}
\documentclass[a4paper, 12pt]{article}
\author{My Name}
\setlength\parindent{0pt}
\addtolength{\topmargin}{-1in}
\begin{document}
\begin{table}
\centering
Something:
\caption{blah blah}
\smallskip
\begin{tabular}{c c}
\hline
1 & 2 \\
3 & 4 \\
5 & 6 \\
7 & 8 \\
\end{tabular}
\caption{blah blah}
\smallskip
\begin{tabular}{c c}
\hline
1 & 2 \\
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
\end{document}
Best Answer
\centerline{\includegraphics{foo}}Can you provide an example? You can use
\raggedrightor evenragged2epackage to control the paragraph. However, I wonder how the short lines fill the whole page width.