Preference: Paragraph indent or a little paragraph spacing? - Page 3

Sweetpea · 11-03-2011, 05:39 AM

Can't stand spaces between paragraphs. I always see that as a scene change... Very confusing. I prefer a small indent.

astra · 11-03-2011, 06:39 AM

1.) An average paragraph indent with no line spacing between paragraphs.

ETA

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Can't stand spaces between paragraphs. I always see that as a scene change... Very confusing. I prefer a small indent.

Rob Lister · 11-03-2011, 07:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blossom

I use * * * for scene breaks. Calibre adds them for you.

I'm of the opinion that * * * is to scene break as ; is to ,

Eskarina · 11-03-2011, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billi

Problems with space instead of indents might occur when you have books with many dialogues, especially when paragraphs consist just of one sentence/line. This can look very ugly with spaces around.

Exactly! It looks especially bad on Coolreader. I'm no expert so when I've done all I can with Calibre and Sigil and still can't strip out the spacing while maintain all other formatting (scene breaks etc), I'll sometimes grit my teeth and tolerate the space between paragraphs. I'm usually okay until I get to a page with lots of dialog then I'm all like ahhhh!!! My eyes! My eyes! Make it go away!

At that point, it's either put the book aside for now or read the book with Mantano or Aldiko reader (the spacing doesn't look as bad there for some reason).

seajewel · 11-03-2011, 01:50 PM

Yeah I really don't like spacing between lines. Let me repeat, let the user choose between publisher default and choosing their own method on the device. I don't like lines between spaces. It bothers me, and sometimes it messes with scene breaks.

pdurrant · 11-03-2011, 01:52 PM

indent and no extra space.

DixieGal · 11-03-2011, 02:08 PM

Due to bad eyesight, I use very large fonts. The skipped line between paragraphs takes up too much screen space on a page that is only 7 or 8 lines long. Therefore, I personally prefer an indent.

John Carroll · 11-03-2011, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hamlet53

I actually prefer both.

Me too.

Phogg · 11-03-2011, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DustyDisks

Prefer both indent and a space, it makes it easer to leave a page and return to find my place again.

+1 when I format. Not a full line height space though.

Todd Young · 11-03-2011, 05:13 PM

I want to use an indent. I do this on Smashords .mobi files. But when it comes to Amazon, I've got no idea why their converter doesn't work straight from a word file. If I put an indent in, it starts indenting in all these random places. I'm not a tech-head, so with my Amazon books, I use a line break between each paragraph and a symbol if it's a scene break.

pdurrant · 11-03-2011, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Todd Young

I want to use an indent. I do this on Smashords .mobi files. But when it comes to Amazon, I've got no idea why their converter doesn't work straight from a word file. If I put an indent in, it starts indenting in all these random places. I'm not a tech-head, so with my Amazon books, I use a line break between each paragraph and a symbol if it's a scene break.

Why not take the mobi file from the Smashwords conversion and upload that to Amazon?

DiapDealer · 11-03-2011, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Why not take the mobi file from the Smashwords conversion and upload that to Amazon?

Bada-bing!

emilikins · 11-09-2011, 09:01 AM

It depends ... generally indents, with maybe a little extra spacing between paragraphs, but I grew up reading fan fic, where generally you had the extra line between paragraphs. So, for "real" fiction, I don't prefer spacing, but for fan fiction, I do.

Of course, the line is blurring with that now. I've turned some of my fav fics into epubs, and some of them read better without the line spacing.

JoeD · 11-09-2011, 09:52 AM

I don't mind either way, but I'd prefer it if ebooks left the decision up to the app and the app exposed it as an optional setting to the user. Flexibility is a big advantage of ebooks over paperbooks imo.

Jeff L · 11-10-2011, 03:07 PM

Allowing the user to set the parameters would be ideal. However, there isn't a universal way in which paragraphs are encoded.

That's why automatic converters like Calibre will sometimes fail to make the adjustments you want.

Sometimes the paragraphs themselves aren't within html tags but the inter-paragraph space is. There are other oddities like that.

In those cases, the only solution is to manually change the code yourself.

BTW, I set my regular paragraphs with a 4% indent and 1% top-margin.

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11-03-2011, 05:39 AM	#31
Sweetpea Grand Sorcerer Posts: 9,707 Karma: 32763414 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Krewerd Device: Pocketbook Inkpad 4 Color; Samsung Galaxy Tab S6	Can't stand spaces between paragraphs. I always see that as a scene change... Very confusing. I prefer a small indent.

11-03-2011, 01:50 PM	#35
seajewel Fanatic Posts: 589 Karma: 1451235 Join Date: Jun 2008 Device: Sony PRS-505, Sony PRS-950	Yeah I really don't like spacing between lines. Let me repeat, let the user choose between publisher default and choosing their own method on the device. I don't like lines between spaces. It bothers me, and sometimes it messes with scene breaks.

11-03-2011, 01:52 PM	#36
pdurrant The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠 Posts: 71,510 Karma: 306214458 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Voyage	indent and no extra space.

11-03-2011, 02:08 PM	#37
DixieGal Hi There! Posts: 7,473 Karma: 2930523 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Ft Lauderdale Device: iPad	Due to bad eyesight, I use very large fonts. The skipped line between paragraphs takes up too much screen space on a page that is only 7 or 8 lines long. Therefore, I personally prefer an indent.

11-03-2011, 05:13 PM	#40
Todd Young Addict Posts: 243 Karma: 1004164 Join Date: May 2011 Device: Kindle 2	I want to use an indent. I do this on Smashords .mobi files. But when it comes to Amazon, I've got no idea why their converter doesn't work straight from a word file. If I put an indent in, it starts indenting in all these random places. I'm not a tech-head, so with my Amazon books, I use a line break between each paragraph and a symbol if it's a scene break.

11-09-2011, 09:01 AM	#43
emilikins Short One in the Stacks Posts: 142 Karma: 198348 Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Midwest Device: HTC Flyer; Kobo WiFi	It depends ... generally indents, with maybe a little extra spacing between paragraphs, but I grew up reading fan fic, where generally you had the extra line between paragraphs. So, for "real" fiction, I don't prefer spacing, but for fan fiction, I do. Of course, the line is blurring with that now. I've turned some of my fav fics into epubs, and some of them read better without the line spacing.

11-09-2011, 09:52 AM	#44
JoeD Guru Posts: 895 Karma: 4383958 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: na	I don't mind either way, but I'd prefer it if ebooks left the decision up to the app and the app exposed it as an optional setting to the user. Flexibility is a big advantage of ebooks over paperbooks imo.

11-10-2011, 03:07 PM	#45
Jeff L Zealot Posts: 117 Karma: 584308 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: San Francisco Device: Kindle	Allowing the user to set the parameters would be ideal. However, there isn't a universal way in which paragraphs are encoded. That's why automatic converters like Calibre will sometimes fail to make the adjustments you want. Sometimes the paragraphs themselves aren't within html tags but the inter-paragraph space is. There are other oddities like that. In those cases, the only solution is to manually change the code yourself. BTW, I set my regular paragraphs with a 4% indent and 1% top-margin.

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