Page Layout ⇒ Weird space when inserting figure

[matteot]

Hi all,
I'm building e LaTeX document on OSX (MacTex 2010) and I have a weird problem of space insertion when placing a large figure. Basically, wherever I insert a figure that latex needs to place somewhere else on the compiled text, I get a wide space between the two paragraphs preceding and ending the figure.

Here's a working example (hope got it right- it compiles for me):

Code: Select all

\documentclass[english,11pt,twoside,openright]{book}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[latin9]{inputenc}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage[english,italian]{babel}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}

\chapter{General introduction}

\section{Life at low temperatures}
\lipsum[1-3]
\begin{center}
\begin{figure}
\includegraphics[width=0.8\textwidth]{image}\caption{\lipsum[1]}
\end{figure}
\end{center}
\lipsum[4-6]

\end{document}

here's the result:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6835227/prova.pdf

thank you for helping

[gmedina]

Hi,

replace

Code: Select all

\begin{center}
\begin{figure}
\includegraphics[width=0.8\textwidth]{image}\caption{\lipsum[1]}
\end{figure}
\end{center}

with

Code: Select all

\begin{figure}[!ht]
  \centering
  \includegraphics[width=0.8\textwidth]{image}
  \caption{\lipsum[1]}
\end{figure}

Delete the [!ht] part if you want you figure to float freely.

[matteot]

Thank you very much! I would never have figured it out. Can you explain me what's wrong with the center environment?

[localghost]

[…] Can you explain me what's wrong with the center environment?

TeX Frequently Asked Questions — Extra vertical space in floats


Best regards and welcome to the board
Thorsten