Quote:
Originally Posted by JSWolf
Why use a blockquote if it's not going to actually be a blockquote? A blockquote is meant to offset text by having a margin around block of text. By having no margins for a blockquote, you end up with it not actually being a blockquote. The amount of margin used is up to whomever. But there has to be a margin of enoug of a size to show the block of text is actually offset or it's not a proper blockquote.
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No, a blockquote is exactly what it says on the tin: an extended quotation. You CAN make it stand out from the rest of the text with margins, and that is the way that most browsers will display it by default, but it's not written in tablets of stone by a divine power that "thou shalt indent a blockquote". It's perfectly possible to make it stand out in some other way, such as using a different font, or displaying it in italics.
A blockquote is a semantic concept, not a visual one. Ask yourself this, for example: how would a text to speech program differentiate a blockquote from the surrounding text?