Re: [csswg-drafts] [css-text] Rename `text-wrap-style: avoid-orphans` (#11283)

We definitely need to rename this property. In part, because a single word left alone at the end of a paragraph is called a "widow", not an "orphan". So even if we wanted to continue using the traditional word for this, it should be `avoid-widows`. The `text-wrap-style: avoid-orphans` rule would mean avoiding having a word all by itself on a single line at the beginning of the paragraph — which makes no sense at all. 

I agree however, that in 2025, we should rename these terms, not carry them even further into the future. Even the word "widow" as a term for human is frustrating. It's deeply rooted in the idea that women cannot live on their own, that there's something very wrong with a woman being single. She should go from her father's house to her husband's house, and if her husband dies, she needs to be labeled by society with an especially-tragic term, since she is now destined to poverty and hardship, since only men can properly hold careers and own a household.

So what do we rename this to? I believe `avoid-short-last-line` might be the best we can do. 

It should be `line` not `lines` because it's about the length of the very last line, not the last 2-3 lines. In fact, the second-and-third-to-last lines are likely to get shorter, not longer, when this is applied (as some of the words from those lines are moved down to the last line).

`avoid` is good — it's sets the stage, we are avoiding something
`short` is a strong way to say what's wrong, we don't like something far too short
`last-line` is descriptive. It also works in all writing modes. 

It's tempting to keep going on a search for the perfect different phrase that will trigger people's memory of this thing. But that doesn't exist. "Widow" is what western typography calls it and what art schools / graphic design classes teach. Most people have never heard of this concept — that it's bad for the last line of a paragraph to be too short. Without having a pre-conceived  notion for this idea, the CSS value has to explain it. 

Is there something shorter and easier to remember than `text-wrap-style: avoid-short-last-line`? Maybe we don't need to "avoid" something, but more directly state the result we want?

- text-wrap-style: avoid-short-last-line
- text-wrap-style: longer-last-line
- text-wrap-style: long-last-line

It might feel tempting to talk about words & use something like `avoid-single-word`, but that's a terrible idea, given the commitment to ensure CSS represents all languages and scripts, not just English/Latin-alphabetic scripts. The term we chose must support character-based languages, and "word" isn't applicable in that context.

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Received on Monday, 10 March 2025 15:44:22 UTC