eao@point.mps.ohio-state.edu (Ed Overman) (03/16/91)
I would like to hear some suggestions on, what is to me, the most annoying
result of indentation. That is, when I am using \item{...}... and then
begin a new paragraph. It is often VERY difficult to determine where the
new paragraph begins. One solution is to use a little \parskip to let the
eye end the \item . However this seems very asymmetric since it can break
up a page visually. Another solution is to indent \item by f\parindent
where f != 1 . Would anyone care to comment on these two or offer any
other suggestions?
>>graeme@otago.ac.nz writes:
>>Furthermore, if a paragraph starts at the top of a page, it
>>is impossible for the reader to know whether it is a new
>>paragraph or the continuation of the previous paragraph.
>eijkhout@s41.csrd.uiuc.edu (Victor Eijkhout):
>So how about indenting pars that are top of page, and
>using parskip for the rest? I can do that in TeX.
OK! I'll bite, Victor. How? (since TeX may very well be working on the
previous page when it begins the new paragraph)
Ed Overman
The TeXbook --- similar to the Bible but it is accepted by Jews and Moslems
alike (although from right to left).eijkhout@s41.csrd.uiuc.edu (Victor Eijkhout) (03/17/91)
eao@point.mps.ohio-state.edu (Ed Overman) writes: >I would like to hear some suggestions on, what is to me, the most annoying >result of indentation. That is, when I am using \item{...}... and then >begin a new paragraph. It is often VERY difficult to determine where the >new paragraph begins. I think that in this case you don't want a new paragraph to be indented at all. The reason for indenting is making the start visible, and it's effect is the opposite. Note that LaTeX (the standard styles, that is, not my own styles) use a small indentation (1 quad, very traditionally. Note: although he is thanked in the preface of the book, Richard Southall assures me that he had nothing to do with the distribution styles :-), and a larger ones for lists. Result: recognisable paragraphs, and a hopelessly messy layout. U-G-L-Y. >>eijkhout@s41.csrd.uiuc.edu (Victor Eijkhout): >>So how about indenting pars that are top of page, and >>using parskip for the rest? I can do that in TeX. >OK! I'll bite, Victor. How? (since TeX may very well be working on the >previous page when it begins the new paragraph) Actually, this took me almost half an hour to program. Here's the idea: let \everypar generate \par\penalty-\specialvalue, and let \output test for an \outputpenalty of -\specialvalue (where \mathchardef\specialvalue=10001 or so). If that is the case, then test what remove one box (the empty line of the paragraph) and one glue (\parskip) from the page, and see if the result is \topskip. If so, the page is empty, and you do \noindent, otherwise it isn't and you \leavevmode. Elementary, my dear Overman. (And in case you suspected, yes, I was waiting for someone to bite. This newsgroup is just as important for its entertainment value as for its information content.) Victor.
schoett@informatik.tu-muenchen.de (Oliver Schoett) (03/28/91)
In article <1991Mar14.194124.18866@rice.edu> dorai@tone.rice.edu (Dorai Sitaram) writes: > [...] most of the books (novels) I've seen that were printed in a > certain country [famous for its books!] appear to favor a > do-nothing paragraph separating style, i.e., neither indentation > nor vertical space. > Thus, the only aid to recognizing a new paragraph is that the > trailing line of the previous paragraph doesn't quite make it to > the right margin. (Ergo, this style will not work for raggedright > text, hence I can't demonstrate it in this article.) The just-start-a-new-line style for paragraph breaks seems to become increasingly common in Germany too, especially in word processing (presumably because those pesky automatic paragraph indentations and vertical spacings don't get in the way when you don't want them), but also in some books. I find this style rotten and am tempted to throw material typeset like this right into the wastebasket. The reason is that I can't read the stuff: my technique for speedy reading depends crucially on scanning paragraph beginnings, for which I need a fast way to locate paragraphs (especially the top left corner). There is something to be said for conservatism in typography; a lot of typographical `dogma' has to do with legibility. Oliver Schoett Institut f. Informatik, Technische Univ. M"unchen Postfach 20 24 20, 8000 M"unchen 2, Germany schoett@informatik.tu-muenchen.de phone +49 89 2105-2390 fax -8207