3 ms·

Nice resource, but I disagree about indenting paragraphs in web copy. I've found that for me, I'm more comfortable with narrow paragraphs spacing and tradition

by acabal 14y ago

Nice resource, but I disagree about indenting paragraphs in web copy. I've found that for me, I'm more comfortable with narrow paragraphs spacing and traditional indentation in print media; but web media just reads more smoothly with wider paragraphs spacing and no indentation. Indenting web copy stands out, but in the wrong way I think.

ollysb 14y ago
Yeah, they don't look great with a ragged right edge. With justified text the structure would be far clearer.
- delinka 14y ago
  I'd bet that a reason the first line indent was invented was as a space-saving method of indicating new paragraphs. Do we skip a whole line and waste paper, or ... ? "I know! We can put a bit of extra space before the first word of the next paragraph!" Such things are not required in digital media where each reader might have completely different spaces for text to render within. And, ideally, the content and its formatting are structured in such a way as to allow the user to apply their own formatting if desired. warning & disclaimer: post may contain factually incorrect guesses and suppositions of the author; no information herein should be considered accurate or factual; use at your own risk
  - radio4fan 14y ago
    I was once told by a typesetter that paragraphs have always been separated by indenting the first line. Then along came Microsoft Word, which inserted vertical space between paragraphs instead. Now most people think it's supposed to be that way. I have no citation for this, but have noticed that novels in print use indentation rather than spacing.
    - nsfmc 14y ago
      this is not strictly true, but it is a postwar convention that was popularized by Penguin books [1] and its 'composition rules' which were canonized by jan tschichold. The more common 'tradition', which Typeplate ignores, is that you indent only if you do not insert vertical space between lines. The idea being that you only need to do one visual 'thing' to make a block of text distinct from another, why do two? the earlier tradition was that you'd add a pilcrow or some other distinctive mark at the start of a logical paragraph mid-line so that as little paper (which was either baby cow parchment or made of precious linen) was wasted on whitespace. For an example, look at a 42 line bible [2] or eric gill's book on typography [3]. [1]: http://www.thenewgraphic.com/2012/06/jan-tschichold-penguin-composition-rules/ http://www.thenewgraphic.com/2012/06/jan-tschichold-penguin-... [2]: http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/permanent/gutenbergbible/pages/#top http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/permanent/gutenbergbib... [3]: http://www.olivertomas.com/books/eric-gills-an-essay-on-typography-1936/ http://www.olivertomas.com/books/eric-gills-an-essay-on-typo...

by acabal 14y ago

ollysb 14y ago

Yeah, they don't look great with a ragged right edge. With justified text the structure would be far clearer.

delinka 14y ago
I'd bet that a reason the first line indent was invented was as a space-saving method of indicating new paragraphs. Do we skip a whole line and waste paper, or ... ? "I know! We can put a bit of extra space before the first word of the next paragraph!" Such things are not required in digital media where each reader might have completely different spaces for text to render within. And, ideally, the content and its formatting are structured in such a way as to allow the user to apply their own formatting if desired. warning & disclaimer: post may contain factually incorrect guesses and suppositions of the author; no information herein should be considered accurate or factual; use at your own risk
- radio4fan 14y ago
  I was once told by a typesetter that paragraphs have always been separated by indenting the first line. Then along came Microsoft Word, which inserted vertical space between paragraphs instead. Now most people think it's supposed to be that way. I have no citation for this, but have noticed that novels in print use indentation rather than spacing.
  - nsfmc 14y ago
    this is not strictly true, but it is a postwar convention that was popularized by Penguin books [1] and its 'composition rules' which were canonized by jan tschichold. The more common 'tradition', which Typeplate ignores, is that you indent only if you do not insert vertical space between lines. The idea being that you only need to do one visual 'thing' to make a block of text distinct from another, why do two? the earlier tradition was that you'd add a pilcrow or some other distinctive mark at the start of a logical paragraph mid-line so that as little paper (which was either baby cow parchment or made of precious linen) was wasted on whitespace. For an example, look at a 42 line bible [2] or eric gill's book on typography [3]. [1]: http://www.thenewgraphic.com/2012/06/jan-tschichold-penguin-composition-rules/ http://www.thenewgraphic.com/2012/06/jan-tschichold-penguin-... [2]: http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/permanent/gutenbergbible/pages/#top http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/permanent/gutenbergbib... [3]: http://www.olivertomas.com/books/eric-gills-an-essay-on-typography-1936/ http://www.olivertomas.com/books/eric-gills-an-essay-on-typo...