Mixing
Is float placement [H] considered heinous?
Many MWEs include code like:
usepackage{float}
% etc
begin{figure}[H]% or begin{table}[H]
% figure/table code (e.g. begin{tabular}...)
% etc
which has the effect of placing the float (figure or table or ...) at that exact position in the document no matter how bad it will look with respect to spurious white space. The effect is to turn the float into a non-float but with the option of adding a caption. Often the question is about an undesired position of the float which is what the [H] option often leads to.
Should the [H] option be used at all?
floats
edited Jan 13 at 20:48
dexteritas
3,7721027
asked Jan 12 at 21:37
Peter WilsonPeter Wilson
8,41211433
|
show 12 more comments
Many MWEs include code like:
usepackage{float}
% etc
begin{figure}[H]% or begin{table}[H]
% figure/table code (e.g. begin{tabular}...)
% etc
which has the effect of placing the float (figure or table or ...) at that exact position in the document no matter how bad it will look with respect to spurious white space. The effect is to turn the float into a non-float but with the option of adding a caption. Often the question is about an undesired position of the float which is what the [H] option often leads to.
Should the [H] option be used at all?
floats
edited Jan 13 at 20:48
dexteritas
3,7721027
asked Jan 12 at 21:37
Peter WilsonPeter Wilson
8,41211433
4
Sorry, but TeX-StackExchange is a Q&A site. As it stands, there is no question here, which means this will likely be closed.
– Joseph Wright♦
Jan 12 at 21:40
6
You could make it a question if you ask e.g. "What are the alternatives to [H]?", and then you could add your own answer. There are several examples of such questions with self-answers.
– marmot
Jan 12 at 22:01
5
In my opinion, if something has to be “right there”, then it doesn't need a caption.
– egreg
Jan 12 at 22:16
4
@egreg: I disagree. For writing lengthy books or science articles it may be appropiate to have floating figures, but outside of the ivory tower of academia, in 'lower class' teaching, where short work sheets are much more useful and you can not let images etc. float away. They must stay exactly at their position and they do need a caption!
– Christian Hupfer
Jan 12 at 22:34
2
@ChristianHupfer And I would add that a "right here" table could be referenced later in the document, hence the caption is needed!
– CarLaTeX
Jan 13 at 8:16
|
show 12 more comments
Many MWEs include code like:
usepackage{float}
% etc
begin{figure}[H]% or begin{table}[H]
% figure/table code (e.g. begin{tabular}...)
% etc
which has the effect of placing the float (figure or table or ...) at that exact position in the document no matter how bad it will look with respect to spurious white space. The effect is to turn the float into a non-float but with the option of adding a caption. Often the question is about an undesired position of the float which is what the [H] option often leads to.
Should the [H] option be used at all?
floats
edited Jan 13 at 20:48
dexteritas
3,7721027
asked Jan 12 at 21:37
Peter WilsonPeter Wilson
8,41211433
Many MWEs include code like:
usepackage{float}
% etc
begin{figure}[H]% or begin{table}[H]
% figure/table code (e.g. begin{tabular}...)
% etc
which has the effect of placing the float (figure or table or ...) at that exact position in the document no matter how bad it will look with respect to spurious white space. The effect is to turn the float into a non-float but with the option of adding a caption. Often the question is about an undesired position of the float which is what the [H] option often leads to.
Should the [H] option be used at all?
floats
floats
edited Jan 13 at 20:48
dexteritas
3,7721027
asked Jan 12 at 21:37
Peter WilsonPeter Wilson
8,41211433
edited Jan 13 at 20:48
dexteritas
3,7721027
asked Jan 12 at 21:37
Peter WilsonPeter Wilson
8,41211433
edited Jan 13 at 20:48
dexteritas
3,7721027
edited Jan 13 at 20:48
dexteritas
3,7721027
edited Jan 13 at 20:48
dexteritas
3,7721027
3,7721027
asked Jan 12 at 21:37
Peter WilsonPeter Wilson
8,41211433
asked Jan 12 at 21:37
Peter WilsonPeter Wilson
8,41211433
asked Jan 12 at 21:37
Peter WilsonPeter Wilson
8,41211433
8,41211433
4
Sorry, but TeX-StackExchange is a Q&A site. As it stands, there is no question here, which means this will likely be closed.
– Joseph Wright♦
Jan 12 at 21:40
6
You could make it a question if you ask e.g. "What are the alternatives to [H]?", and then you could add your own answer. There are several examples of such questions with self-answers.
– marmot
Jan 12 at 22:01
5
In my opinion, if something has to be “right there”, then it doesn't need a caption.
– egreg
Jan 12 at 22:16
4
@egreg: I disagree. For writing lengthy books or science articles it may be appropiate to have floating figures, but outside of the ivory tower of academia, in 'lower class' teaching, where short work sheets are much more useful and you can not let images etc. float away. They must stay exactly at their position and they do need a caption!
– Christian Hupfer
Jan 12 at 22:34
2
@ChristianHupfer And I would add that a "right here" table could be referenced later in the document, hence the caption is needed!
– CarLaTeX
Jan 13 at 8:16
|
show 12 more comments
4
Sorry, but TeX-StackExchange is a Q&A site. As it stands, there is no question here, which means this will likely be closed.
– Joseph Wright♦
Jan 12 at 21:40
6
You could make it a question if you ask e.g. "What are the alternatives to [H]?", and then you could add your own answer. There are several examples of such questions with self-answers.
– marmot
Jan 12 at 22:01
5
In my opinion, if something has to be “right there”, then it doesn't need a caption.
– egreg
Jan 12 at 22:16
4
@egreg: I disagree. For writing lengthy books or science articles it may be appropiate to have floating figures, but outside of the ivory tower of academia, in 'lower class' teaching, where short work sheets are much more useful and you can not let images etc. float away. They must stay exactly at their position and they do need a caption!
– Christian Hupfer
Jan 12 at 22:34
2
@ChristianHupfer And I would add that a "right here" table could be referenced later in the document, hence the caption is needed!
– CarLaTeX
Jan 13 at 8:16
4
4
Sorry, but TeX-StackExchange is a Q&A site. As it stands, there is no question here, which means this will likely be closed.
– Joseph Wright♦
Jan 12 at 21:40
Sorry, but TeX-StackExchange is a Q&A site. As it stands, there is no question here, which means this will likely be closed.
– Joseph Wright♦
Jan 12 at 21:40
6
6
You could make it a question if you ask e.g. "What are the alternatives to [H]?", and then you could add your own answer. There are several examples of such questions with self-answers.
– marmot
Jan 12 at 22:01
You could make it a question if you ask e.g. "What are the alternatives to [H]?", and then you could add your own answer. There are several examples of such questions with self-answers.
– marmot
Jan 12 at 22:01
5
5
In my opinion, if something has to be “right there”, then it doesn't need a caption.
– egreg
Jan 12 at 22:16
In my opinion, if something has to be “right there”, then it doesn't need a caption.
– egreg
Jan 12 at 22:16
4
4
@egreg: I disagree. For writing lengthy books or science articles it may be appropiate to have floating figures, but outside of the ivory tower of academia, in 'lower class' teaching, where short work sheets are much more useful and you can not let images etc. float away. They must stay exactly at their position and they do need a caption!
– Christian Hupfer
Jan 12 at 22:34
@egreg: I disagree. For writing lengthy books or science articles it may be appropiate to have floating figures, but outside of the ivory tower of academia, in 'lower class' teaching, where short work sheets are much more useful and you can not let images etc. float away. They must stay exactly at their position and they do need a caption!
– Christian Hupfer
Jan 12 at 22:34
2
2
@ChristianHupfer And I would add that a "right here" table could be referenced later in the document, hence the caption is needed!
– CarLaTeX
Jan 13 at 8:16
@ChristianHupfer And I would add that a "right here" table could be referenced later in the document, hence the caption is needed!
– CarLaTeX
Jan 13 at 8:16
|
show 12 more comments
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
[H] is often (perhaps usually) misused but it isn't heinous, and the person who originally came up with the syntax is of course extremely honourable.
As egreg commented below the (non)-question, if an image or table is a non-float it shouldn't need a caption so the markup can be simply tabular or includegraphics with no surrounding float container so no need for [H]
However there is a use case where H can be useful. It is not really [H] for Here it is [H] for Humans are better at choosing float positions. If you are prepared to take full control, use [H] on all your floats and float them by hand by moving the environment in the source, and if necessary re-writing other parts of the page to help make things fit, then for some documents you can surely get better results. Of course there is a very high maintenance cost to this as any edit invalidates all the positioning and you have to check all the page breaks again, but if you have just spent ten years writing a book, spending a week at the end hand tuning float positions isn't necessarily the wrong thing to do.
edited Jan 12 at 23:07
Thruston
26.2k24290
answered Jan 12 at 22:26
David CarlisleDavid Carlisle
490k4111321881
It is opinable that a non-floating object doesn't need a caption, see Christian's and my comments to the OP.
– CarLaTeX
Jan 13 at 21:06
@CarLaTeX yes also of course it depends what you mean by non-float if it is typeset away from its point of reference then it needs a caption whether it moved by latex moving it or by the author putting it in that place. If it is only referenced immediately adjacent to the figure then the use of a caption is more questionable but still not necessarily wrong.
– David Carlisle
Jan 13 at 21:09
I can’t disagree with this answer but must groan audibly whenever my students submit reports with big gaps in their pages because they’ve somehow decided that all figures should be [H]. It’s maddening! (Although I don’t blame the honourable author of the package.)
– Will Robertson
Jan 14 at 20:50
add a comment |
The [H] float option turns the float (figure, table, etc.) effectively into a non-float (although it may have a regular caption) making it appear in the final document where it was put in the LaTeX source. This can then result in much extraneous white space (what happens if the [H] float requires 3 inches vertical space but there is only 2 inches available on the page?).
If you really want a float to be a non-float then don't call it as a float e.g.,
%%% begin{table}% don't use this!
begin{tabular}
% tabular code
If you need a caption then you can use the caption package. For example
usepackage{caption}
% etc
begin{center} % if you want the tabular centered
begin{tabular}
% etc
captionof{table}[LoT entry]{Nonfloating table caption}
label{tab:X}
end{tabular}
end{center}
% etc
LaTeX tries very hard to position floats in a pleasing way via the optional float parameters [htbp]. If you think that you can do better then good luck to you.
A comprehensive discussion about floats and what you can do with them is in the 43 page Chapter 6 of Frank Mittelbach and Michael Goossens The LaTeX Companion, Second Edition, Addison Wesley, 2004 (I understand that a Third Edition may be in the offing at some future point). The chapter includes details of how you can adjust the allowable spaces for top (t), bottom (b) and here (h) floats.
The memoir manual (>texdoc memoir) has a Chapter Floats and captions that contains similar information. The Not so Short Introduction to LaTeX2e (> texdoc lshort) also has useful information on the topic.
Following from jfbu's comment I should have remembered that Frank Mittelbach wrote a comprehensive article How to influence the position of float environments like figure and table in LaTeX? It can be accessed, and printed from, [TUGboat, the journal of the TeX User Group]{https://tug.org/TUGboat/tb35-3/tb111mitt-float.pdf}
answered Jan 13 at 21:38
Peter WilsonPeter Wilson
8,41211433
1
perhaps worth mentioning tex.stackexchange.com/questions/39017/… in this context...
– user4686
Jan 13 at 22:16
add a comment |
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2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
[H] is often (perhaps usually) misused but it isn't heinous, and the person who originally came up with the syntax is of course extremely honourable.
As egreg commented below the (non)-question, if an image or table is a non-float it shouldn't need a caption so the markup can be simply tabular or includegraphics with no surrounding float container so no need for [H]
However there is a use case where H can be useful. It is not really [H] for Here it is [H] for Humans are better at choosing float positions. If you are prepared to take full control, use [H] on all your floats and float them by hand by moving the environment in the source, and if necessary re-writing other parts of the page to help make things fit, then for some documents you can surely get better results. Of course there is a very high maintenance cost to this as any edit invalidates all the positioning and you have to check all the page breaks again, but if you have just spent ten years writing a book, spending a week at the end hand tuning float positions isn't necessarily the wrong thing to do.
edited Jan 12 at 23:07
Thruston
26.2k24290
answered Jan 12 at 22:26
David CarlisleDavid Carlisle
490k4111321881
It is opinable that a non-floating object doesn't need a caption, see Christian's and my comments to the OP.
– CarLaTeX
Jan 13 at 21:06
@CarLaTeX yes also of course it depends what you mean by non-float if it is typeset away from its point of reference then it needs a caption whether it moved by latex moving it or by the author putting it in that place. If it is only referenced immediately adjacent to the figure then the use of a caption is more questionable but still not necessarily wrong.
– David Carlisle
Jan 13 at 21:09
I can’t disagree with this answer but must groan audibly whenever my students submit reports with big gaps in their pages because they’ve somehow decided that all figures should be [H]. It’s maddening! (Although I don’t blame the honourable author of the package.)
– Will Robertson
Jan 14 at 20:50
add a comment |
[H] is often (perhaps usually) misused but it isn't heinous, and the person who originally came up with the syntax is of course extremely honourable.
As egreg commented below the (non)-question, if an image or table is a non-float it shouldn't need a caption so the markup can be simply tabular or includegraphics with no surrounding float container so no need for [H]
However there is a use case where H can be useful. It is not really [H] for Here it is [H] for Humans are better at choosing float positions. If you are prepared to take full control, use [H] on all your floats and float them by hand by moving the environment in the source, and if necessary re-writing other parts of the page to help make things fit, then for some documents you can surely get better results. Of course there is a very high maintenance cost to this as any edit invalidates all the positioning and you have to check all the page breaks again, but if you have just spent ten years writing a book, spending a week at the end hand tuning float positions isn't necessarily the wrong thing to do.
edited Jan 12 at 23:07
Thruston
26.2k24290
answered Jan 12 at 22:26
David CarlisleDavid Carlisle
490k4111321881
It is opinable that a non-floating object doesn't need a caption, see Christian's and my comments to the OP.
– CarLaTeX
Jan 13 at 21:06
@CarLaTeX yes also of course it depends what you mean by non-float if it is typeset away from its point of reference then it needs a caption whether it moved by latex moving it or by the author putting it in that place. If it is only referenced immediately adjacent to the figure then the use of a caption is more questionable but still not necessarily wrong.
– David Carlisle
Jan 13 at 21:09
I can’t disagree with this answer but must groan audibly whenever my students submit reports with big gaps in their pages because they’ve somehow decided that all figures should be [H]. It’s maddening! (Although I don’t blame the honourable author of the package.)
– Will Robertson
Jan 14 at 20:50
add a comment |
[H] is often (perhaps usually) misused but it isn't heinous, and the person who originally came up with the syntax is of course extremely honourable.
As egreg commented below the (non)-question, if an image or table is a non-float it shouldn't need a caption so the markup can be simply tabular or includegraphics with no surrounding float container so no need for [H]
However there is a use case where H can be useful. It is not really [H] for Here it is [H] for Humans are better at choosing float positions. If you are prepared to take full control, use [H] on all your floats and float them by hand by moving the environment in the source, and if necessary re-writing other parts of the page to help make things fit, then for some documents you can surely get better results. Of course there is a very high maintenance cost to this as any edit invalidates all the positioning and you have to check all the page breaks again, but if you have just spent ten years writing a book, spending a week at the end hand tuning float positions isn't necessarily the wrong thing to do.
edited Jan 12 at 23:07
Thruston
26.2k24290
answered Jan 12 at 22:26
David CarlisleDavid Carlisle
490k4111321881
[H] is often (perhaps usually) misused but it isn't heinous, and the person who originally came up with the syntax is of course extremely honourable.
As egreg commented below the (non)-question, if an image or table is a non-float it shouldn't need a caption so the markup can be simply tabular or includegraphics with no surrounding float container so no need for [H]
However there is a use case where H can be useful. It is not really [H] for Here it is [H] for Humans are better at choosing float positions. If you are prepared to take full control, use [H] on all your floats and float them by hand by moving the environment in the source, and if necessary re-writing other parts of the page to help make things fit, then for some documents you can surely get better results. Of course there is a very high maintenance cost to this as any edit invalidates all the positioning and you have to check all the page breaks again, but if you have just spent ten years writing a book, spending a week at the end hand tuning float positions isn't necessarily the wrong thing to do.
edited Jan 12 at 23:07
Thruston
26.2k24290
answered Jan 12 at 22:26
David CarlisleDavid Carlisle
490k4111321881
edited Jan 12 at 23:07
Thruston
26.2k24290
edited Jan 12 at 23:07
Thruston
26.2k24290
edited Jan 12 at 23:07
Thruston
26.2k24290
26.2k24290
answered Jan 12 at 22:26
David CarlisleDavid Carlisle
490k4111321881
answered Jan 12 at 22:26
David CarlisleDavid Carlisle
490k4111321881
answered Jan 12 at 22:26
David CarlisleDavid Carlisle
490k4111321881
490k4111321881
It is opinable that a non-floating object doesn't need a caption, see Christian's and my comments to the OP.
– CarLaTeX
Jan 13 at 21:06
@CarLaTeX yes also of course it depends what you mean by non-float if it is typeset away from its point of reference then it needs a caption whether it moved by latex moving it or by the author putting it in that place. If it is only referenced immediately adjacent to the figure then the use of a caption is more questionable but still not necessarily wrong.
– David Carlisle
Jan 13 at 21:09
I can’t disagree with this answer but must groan audibly whenever my students submit reports with big gaps in their pages because they’ve somehow decided that all figures should be [H]. It’s maddening! (Although I don’t blame the honourable author of the package.)
– Will Robertson
Jan 14 at 20:50
add a comment |
It is opinable that a non-floating object doesn't need a caption, see Christian's and my comments to the OP.
– CarLaTeX
Jan 13 at 21:06
@CarLaTeX yes also of course it depends what you mean by non-float if it is typeset away from its point of reference then it needs a caption whether it moved by latex moving it or by the author putting it in that place. If it is only referenced immediately adjacent to the figure then the use of a caption is more questionable but still not necessarily wrong.
– David Carlisle
Jan 13 at 21:09
I can’t disagree with this answer but must groan audibly whenever my students submit reports with big gaps in their pages because they’ve somehow decided that all figures should be [H]. It’s maddening! (Although I don’t blame the honourable author of the package.)
– Will Robertson
Jan 14 at 20:50
It is opinable that a non-floating object doesn't need a caption, see Christian's and my comments to the OP.
– CarLaTeX
Jan 13 at 21:06
It is opinable that a non-floating object doesn't need a caption, see Christian's and my comments to the OP.
– CarLaTeX
Jan 13 at 21:06
@CarLaTeX yes also of course it depends what you mean by non-float if it is typeset away from its point of reference then it needs a caption whether it moved by latex moving it or by the author putting it in that place. If it is only referenced immediately adjacent to the figure then the use of a caption is more questionable but still not necessarily wrong.
– David Carlisle
Jan 13 at 21:09
@CarLaTeX yes also of course it depends what you mean by non-float if it is typeset away from its point of reference then it needs a caption whether it moved by latex moving it or by the author putting it in that place. If it is only referenced immediately adjacent to the figure then the use of a caption is more questionable but still not necessarily wrong.
– David Carlisle
Jan 13 at 21:09
I can’t disagree with this answer but must groan audibly whenever my students submit reports with big gaps in their pages because they’ve somehow decided that all figures should be [H]. It’s maddening! (Although I don’t blame the honourable author of the package.)
– Will Robertson
Jan 14 at 20:50
I can’t disagree with this answer but must groan audibly whenever my students submit reports with big gaps in their pages because they’ve somehow decided that all figures should be [H]. It’s maddening! (Although I don’t blame the honourable author of the package.)
– Will Robertson
Jan 14 at 20:50
add a comment |
The [H] float option turns the float (figure, table, etc.) effectively into a non-float (although it may have a regular caption) making it appear in the final document where it was put in the LaTeX source. This can then result in much extraneous white space (what happens if the [H] float requires 3 inches vertical space but there is only 2 inches available on the page?).
If you really want a float to be a non-float then don't call it as a float e.g.,
%%% begin{table}% don't use this!
begin{tabular}
% tabular code
If you need a caption then you can use the caption package. For example
usepackage{caption}
% etc
begin{center} % if you want the tabular centered
begin{tabular}
% etc
captionof{table}[LoT entry]{Nonfloating table caption}
label{tab:X}
end{tabular}
end{center}
% etc
LaTeX tries very hard to position floats in a pleasing way via the optional float parameters [htbp]. If you think that you can do better then good luck to you.
A comprehensive discussion about floats and what you can do with them is in the 43 page Chapter 6 of Frank Mittelbach and Michael Goossens The LaTeX Companion, Second Edition, Addison Wesley, 2004 (I understand that a Third Edition may be in the offing at some future point). The chapter includes details of how you can adjust the allowable spaces for top (t), bottom (b) and here (h) floats.
The memoir manual (>texdoc memoir) has a Chapter Floats and captions that contains similar information. The Not so Short Introduction to LaTeX2e (> texdoc lshort) also has useful information on the topic.
Following from jfbu's comment I should have remembered that Frank Mittelbach wrote a comprehensive article How to influence the position of float environments like figure and table in LaTeX? It can be accessed, and printed from, [TUGboat, the journal of the TeX User Group]{https://tug.org/TUGboat/tb35-3/tb111mitt-float.pdf}
answered Jan 13 at 21:38
Peter WilsonPeter Wilson
8,41211433
1
perhaps worth mentioning tex.stackexchange.com/questions/39017/… in this context...
– user4686
Jan 13 at 22:16
add a comment |
The [H] float option turns the float (figure, table, etc.) effectively into a non-float (although it may have a regular caption) making it appear in the final document where it was put in the LaTeX source. This can then result in much extraneous white space (what happens if the [H] float requires 3 inches vertical space but there is only 2 inches available on the page?).
If you really want a float to be a non-float then don't call it as a float e.g.,
%%% begin{table}% don't use this!
begin{tabular}
% tabular code
If you need a caption then you can use the caption package. For example
usepackage{caption}
% etc
begin{center} % if you want the tabular centered
begin{tabular}
% etc
captionof{table}[LoT entry]{Nonfloating table caption}
label{tab:X}
end{tabular}
end{center}
% etc
LaTeX tries very hard to position floats in a pleasing way via the optional float parameters [htbp]. If you think that you can do better then good luck to you.
A comprehensive discussion about floats and what you can do with them is in the 43 page Chapter 6 of Frank Mittelbach and Michael Goossens The LaTeX Companion, Second Edition, Addison Wesley, 2004 (I understand that a Third Edition may be in the offing at some future point). The chapter includes details of how you can adjust the allowable spaces for top (t), bottom (b) and here (h) floats.
The memoir manual (>texdoc memoir) has a Chapter Floats and captions that contains similar information. The Not so Short Introduction to LaTeX2e (> texdoc lshort) also has useful information on the topic.
Following from jfbu's comment I should have remembered that Frank Mittelbach wrote a comprehensive article How to influence the position of float environments like figure and table in LaTeX? It can be accessed, and printed from, [TUGboat, the journal of the TeX User Group]{https://tug.org/TUGboat/tb35-3/tb111mitt-float.pdf}
answered Jan 13 at 21:38
Peter WilsonPeter Wilson
8,41211433
1
perhaps worth mentioning tex.stackexchange.com/questions/39017/… in this context...
– user4686
Jan 13 at 22:16
add a comment |
The [H] float option turns the float (figure, table, etc.) effectively into a non-float (although it may have a regular caption) making it appear in the final document where it was put in the LaTeX source. This can then result in much extraneous white space (what happens if the [H] float requires 3 inches vertical space but there is only 2 inches available on the page?).
If you really want a float to be a non-float then don't call it as a float e.g.,
%%% begin{table}% don't use this!
begin{tabular}
% tabular code
If you need a caption then you can use the caption package. For example
usepackage{caption}
% etc
begin{center} % if you want the tabular centered
begin{tabular}
% etc
captionof{table}[LoT entry]{Nonfloating table caption}
label{tab:X}
end{tabular}
end{center}
% etc
LaTeX tries very hard to position floats in a pleasing way via the optional float parameters [htbp]. If you think that you can do better then good luck to you.
A comprehensive discussion about floats and what you can do with them is in the 43 page Chapter 6 of Frank Mittelbach and Michael Goossens The LaTeX Companion, Second Edition, Addison Wesley, 2004 (I understand that a Third Edition may be in the offing at some future point). The chapter includes details of how you can adjust the allowable spaces for top (t), bottom (b) and here (h) floats.
The memoir manual (>texdoc memoir) has a Chapter Floats and captions that contains similar information. The Not so Short Introduction to LaTeX2e (> texdoc lshort) also has useful information on the topic.
Following from jfbu's comment I should have remembered that Frank Mittelbach wrote a comprehensive article How to influence the position of float environments like figure and table in LaTeX? It can be accessed, and printed from, [TUGboat, the journal of the TeX User Group]{https://tug.org/TUGboat/tb35-3/tb111mitt-float.pdf}
answered Jan 13 at 21:38
Peter WilsonPeter Wilson
8,41211433
The [H] float option turns the float (figure, table, etc.) effectively into a non-float (although it may have a regular caption) making it appear in the final document where it was put in the LaTeX source. This can then result in much extraneous white space (what happens if the [H] float requires 3 inches vertical space but there is only 2 inches available on the page?).
If you really want a float to be a non-float then don't call it as a float e.g.,
%%% begin{table}% don't use this!
begin{tabular}
% tabular code
If you need a caption then you can use the caption package. For example
usepackage{caption}
% etc
begin{center} % if you want the tabular centered
begin{tabular}
% etc
captionof{table}[LoT entry]{Nonfloating table caption}
label{tab:X}
end{tabular}
end{center}
% etc
LaTeX tries very hard to position floats in a pleasing way via the optional float parameters [htbp]. If you think that you can do better then good luck to you.
A comprehensive discussion about floats and what you can do with them is in the 43 page Chapter 6 of Frank Mittelbach and Michael Goossens The LaTeX Companion, Second Edition, Addison Wesley, 2004 (I understand that a Third Edition may be in the offing at some future point). The chapter includes details of how you can adjust the allowable spaces for top (t), bottom (b) and here (h) floats.
The memoir manual (>texdoc memoir) has a Chapter Floats and captions that contains similar information. The Not so Short Introduction to LaTeX2e (> texdoc lshort) also has useful information on the topic.
Following from jfbu's comment I should have remembered that Frank Mittelbach wrote a comprehensive article How to influence the position of float environments like figure and table in LaTeX? It can be accessed, and printed from, [TUGboat, the journal of the TeX User Group]{https://tug.org/TUGboat/tb35-3/tb111mitt-float.pdf}
answered Jan 13 at 21:38
Peter WilsonPeter Wilson
8,41211433
edited Jan 14 at 20:21
answered Jan 13 at 21:38
Peter WilsonPeter Wilson
8,41211433
answered Jan 13 at 21:38
Peter WilsonPeter Wilson
8,41211433
answered Jan 13 at 21:38
Peter WilsonPeter Wilson
8,41211433
8,41211433
1
perhaps worth mentioning tex.stackexchange.com/questions/39017/… in this context...
– user4686
Jan 13 at 22:16
add a comment |
1
perhaps worth mentioning tex.stackexchange.com/questions/39017/… in this context...
– user4686
Jan 13 at 22:16
1
1
perhaps worth mentioning tex.stackexchange.com/questions/39017/… in this context...
– user4686
Jan 13 at 22:16
perhaps worth mentioning tex.stackexchange.com/questions/39017/… in this context...
– user4686
Jan 13 at 22:16
add a comment |
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Sorry, but TeX-StackExchange is a Q&A site. As it stands, there is no question here, which means this will likely be closed.
– Joseph Wright♦
Jan 12 at 21:40
6
You could make it a question if you ask e.g. "What are the alternatives to [H]?", and then you could add your own answer. There are several examples of such questions with self-answers.
– marmot
Jan 12 at 22:01
5
In my opinion, if something has to be “right there”, then it doesn't need a caption.
– egreg
Jan 12 at 22:16
4
@egreg: I disagree. For writing lengthy books or science articles it may be appropiate to have floating figures, but outside of the ivory tower of academia, in 'lower class' teaching, where short work sheets are much more useful and you can not let images etc. float away. They must stay exactly at their position and they do need a caption!
– Christian Hupfer
Jan 12 at 22:34
2
@ChristianHupfer And I would add that a "right here" table could be referenced later in the document, hence the caption is needed!
– CarLaTeX
Jan 13 at 8:16