We write for the reader: Careful punctuation ensures that the writer's thoughts and concepts are clearly structured and easy to read, and that his information and messages are correctly reproduced.

Hyphenation lines create a harmonious text image in justification and ensure an effective reading flow. In the naturally developped written language rule, they ensure that the correct accents of the words to be separated are preserved as far as possible.

The naturally-grown supra-regional written German (Schriftdeutsch) is based on a set of rules that is always self-renewing, which was deliberately smashed to rob the language of its expressiveness, to deform and destroy it. Thereby among other things many thousands of words were directly destroyed, words, in which the separation and compound spelling have completely different meanings, although the conditions of language destruction will not last in the long run. Proven regulations that had previously reformed in a natural way were declared “outdated”, whereas the highly deformed written language, which was deprived of its expressiveness and thrown far back in its development, was and is praised as “new” and “modern”. The “renewed” rules and hyphenation rules, however, lead to countless errors and misunderstandings, make it difficult to read texts, despite the fact that the underlying, self-contradictory “rules” have been formally implemented correctly in computer programs (no programming errors). Thanks to free software, everyone is free to choose which hyphenation rules and dictionaries they use, free software emphasizes the freedom of the individual, the people and the nation. More information will be published in a separate article (until then a mini article with more general aspects). a mini article with more general aspects [currently only in German]).

Classical written German will continue to be written, and the language packages associated with LibreOffice and OpenOffice will also undergo ongoing maintenance, expansion and updating. Extract from the official description (11 March 2018), published on the “German (de-DE-1901) old spelling dictionaries” -project and -download page of the “LibreOffice Extensions & Templates”: “[...] This extension published by Karl Zeiler integrates dictionaries in accordance with the old rules of German spelling and hyphenation. Classical spelling rules are still valid but do no longer apply to government agencies and schools where the new ones are mandatory. This version - derived from new spelling frami and igerman98 dictionaries - has been modified by Rüdiger Brünner according to the classical spelling rules. Additionally, he enlarged the word list by many scientific technical terms. [...]”.

Under LyX, select “Document”→ “Settings...” and select “German (old spelling)”. in the “Language” section.

LaTeX/LyX: General information on “german / ngerman” (in German).

The word separation systems of modern word processing and typesetting systems are powerful and work as error-free as possible. However, it may happen that a typesetting system does not recognize a compound word as such or that a word protrudes beyond the edge, or that the author wishes for a different separation. For such cases you give clear guidelines.

Separation points can be set centrally in a separate reference word list or directly in the text. The soft hyphen explicitly tells the typesetting system where a word can be hyphenated. One possibility, for example, is to copy it for larger texts via Crtl + C to the clipboard and then paste it via Crtl + V into the syllable or word joints.

Read the WP-article “Soft hyphen”. It contains detailed information for operating systems as well as for word processing and typesetting systems, the table in the section "Representation on computer systems" contains an extensive list of key combinations for different programs.

Some text components, such as hyperlinks or directory paths, can extend over several lines. To ensure that the source information is correct, you must prevent (non-existent) hyphens from being inserted.

Use the Zero-width space to mark your word or text component with hyphens that remain free of hyphens during wrapping. The hyphenation can be disabled for parts of a word as well as for the whole word. Read the following articles to familiarize yourself with the different scenarios:

Separation aids and optional predetermined breaking points increase reading comfort. However, an optional automatic hyphenation feature either does not exist in today's Web page readers and e-book readers, or it does not work satisfactorily.

Partly the problem can be solved, so that at least the wide gaps disappear.

The web page reader program thus has enough syllable separation joints to avoid unattractive gaps. Certain hyphenation cases, such as the retransformation of the double consonant (from “ck” to “kk”) in German, cannot be handled with this, so that no simple hyphenation option is available: In “Zuk-ker”, the short “u” is retained, but “Zu-cker” leads to a long, incorrectly emphasized “u”.

Some words urgently need to be separated, but must not be hyphenated as this would distort their content. Examples are e-mail addresses and hyperlinks where it would no longer be clear whether it is a hyphen or a part of the address itself.

Here, the space character of the length zero helps: ​ (Zero Width Space). For URLs, it is best to insert it between each character of your word, if necessary.

While popular browsers take these separators into account correctly, some e-book readers and e-book software readers either ignore the hyphenation help completely, or they bypass the problem by left justify, or they use the soft hyphens separator, but do not display hyphens. Or worse, they display hyphens wherever hyphens are built in.

In general, at least a subset of the official Epub standard should be implemented bindingly on all e-book readers in order to guarantee a reliable text representation and a tidy reading comfort.