Hi all,

At the end of June, Hans uploaded a new lmtx version which included 
improvements to par building which he and Mikael had been working on in 
math mode. Hans suggested in the online chat that these improvements may 
be useful in typesetting novels. I was keen to try these since I have 
typset novels in the past.

I have ran some tests on two novels which I downloaded from the 
Gutenberg Project site as epubs and extracted them to get the original 
xhtml files which I then typeset in context. I made very little in the 
way of changes to the files so that my setup for xml was very simple.

Here are my setups for the layout of the novels showing some trackers 
that were used as well:

\definepapersize[pagee][width=5.06in,height=7.81in]
\setuppapersize[pagee]
% XML setups here
\startsetups[grid][mypenalties]
\setdefaultpenalties
\setpenalties\widowpenalties{1}{150}
\setpenalties\clubpenalties {1}{150}
\stopsetups
\setuplayout[
width=10cm,
topspace=0.5in,
backspace=2.0cm,
header=7.5mm,
footer=0.25in,
location={middle,middle},
vs=2,
grid=yes,
setups=mypenalties
]
%\enabletrackers[makeup]
%\enabletrackers[builders.hpack.quality]
\enabletrackers[builders.hpack.overflow]
%\enabletrackers[layout.vz]
%\enabletrackers[paragraphs.passes]
\enabletrackers[paragraphs.passes=summary]
%\enabletrackers[paragraphs.passes=details]
\setupalign[granular]
%\setupalign[nothyphenated,hz,verytolerant]
%\setupalign[vertical,height]
%\setupalignpass[decent]
%\setupalignpass[quality]
%\setupalignpass[test1]
\setupalignpass[test2]
%\setupalignpass[test3]
%\setupalignpass[test4]
%\setupalignpass[test5]
%\setupalignpass[optional1]
%\setupalignpass[test2b]
\starttext
\setuppagenumbering[location={footer,middle},alternative=doublesided,state=start]
\setcounter[userpage][1]
%\showmakeup[vbox]
%\showlayout
\dostepwiserecurse{0}{30}{1}{
\xmlprocessfile{mysetups}{/path to xhtml 
files/4439720318703948998_84-h-\recurselevel.htm.xhtml}{}
}
\stoptext

Below are the result showing the number of overfull boxes for these 
novels using the setups in the file spac-imp-tests.mkxl . See the manual 
Low Level - Lines

Test        Novel1   Novel2
Test1        70            35
Test2        30            8
Test3        62            23
Test4        89            40
Test5        28            9
Optional1 55            19
Quality      74            32
Decent      39            11

 From these initial tests one can see that Test2 gave the lowest number 
of overfull boxes. So I edited test two, ran it, and the results are below.

Test        Novel1   Novel2

Test2b      11        0

My setup for test 2b is as follows:
\startsetups align:pass:test2b
     \pretolerance 100
     \tolerance    200
     \parpasses      3
         classes              \indecentparpassclasses
         threshold            0.025pt
         tolerance            800
         extrahyphenpenalty    50
       next
         threshold            0.025pt
         tolerance            900
         adjustspacing          3
         adjustspacingstep      1
         adjustspacingshrink   10
         adjustspacingstretch  15
     next
         threshold            0.025pt
         tolerance            1000
         adjustspacing          3
         adjustspacingstep      1
         adjustspacingshrink   20
         adjustspacingstretch  40
         emergencystretch     .25\bodyfontsize
     \relax
%     \linebreakpasses\plusone
\stopsetups
The only difference between test 2 and 2b are that I increased the 
tolerance in each of the three passes.
In novel 2 this was successful in eliminating the overfull boxes but not 
in Novel 1 although I noticed that majority of overfull boxes were above 
1pt with the largest about 12pt in Novel 1.

I am at the stage now where I need some kind of strategy to 
reduce/eliminate overfull boxes, other than changing the tolerance, and 
I'm hoping for some advice from the community. Suggestions for further 
reading particularly on the commands in \setupalignpass and their usage 
would be appreciated and on the best way to tackle overfull boxes.

Best Wishes

Keith McKay