In french, we put spaces before characters : ! ; ?
when we type the text. For instance, we will type
Que fait-on ? On met un espace avant les deux points : comme cela.
If I do so and use microtype
, the spacing in the generated pdf
file is not the right one. See the following example:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8x]{inputenc}
\usepackage[french]{babel}
\usepackage[babel=true, kerning=french]{microtype}
\begin{document}
Voici ce qui se passe quand on met un signe \og{}deux~points\fg{}
avec le package \og{}microtype\fg{} : il semble que ça ne marche pas !
Un autre essai : est-ce que cela marche ?
\bigskip
\textbf{But what happens if I type my text following the
English typographic rules?}
\bigskip
Voici ce qui se passe quand on met un signe \og{}deux~points\fg{}
avec le package \og{}microtype\fg{}: il semble que ça ne marche pas!
Un autre essai: est-ce que cela marche?
\end{document}
Hence:
- How can I use
microtype
and type my text the french way?
Note: here is the result without microtype
.
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8x]{inputenc}
\usepackage[french]{babel}
%\usepackage[babel=true, kerning=french]{microtype}
\begin{document}
Voici ce qui se passe quand on met un signe \og{}deux~points\fg{}
avec le package \og{}microtype\fg{} :
il semble que ça ne marche pas ! Un autre essai : est-ce que cela marche ?
\end{document}
Best Answer
If you want to use
kerning=french
, then you need to disable the punctuation settings made bybabel
and leave no space before punctuation symbols.Note that for disabling the humongous space before punctuation used in French typography when using another language you have to tell LaTeX you want to temporarily change the rules.
Alternatively, don't use
kerning=french
; you can type a space before punctuation or not.My eyes will never get used to see such monstrosities perpetrated by the French.
;-)