: Re: Why are the paragraphs of a document often indented and not vertically separated? A quick side by side comparison of two layout styles: Left: no indent and with white space; right: indented,

@LarsenBagley300

Vote Up Vote Down

I just pulled a random selection of books off my shelf, US and European publishers, and almost all use indented paragraphs, although I am told that this is less common in Germany. Apart from the savings mentioned above, in print it is the only clear way to distinguish a paragraph, short of using something like drop letters. Think of a sentence that ends at the end of a line and is also the last on a page. The next sentence, which is in the same paragraph, will start at the top of the next page. If you mark paragraphs simply by using extra vertical spacing, you have no way of knowing whether this sentence is the same paragraph or not. A common convention is also to not indent paragraphs that immediately follow a heading, as the heading itself is sufficient to indicate that what follows is a new paragraph. It goes without saying, I would hope, that the heading should be on the same page as the following paragraph.

Unfortunately, word processors such as Word do not automatically recognise the first paragraph after a heading as in any way special, and most people are ignorant of basic conventions and word processor styles. You need to use specialist type-setting tools, such as TeX, to get the effect needed, or be prepared to fine tune after all writing is finished (which you should do anyway, but few bother).

(0)

Login to post a comment!