Typography Essentials

THE PARAGRAPH65 Indicating paragraphs

THE MOST COMMON METHOD of indicating paragraphs is, of course, the indent. What is a matter of some debate is the length of the indent; however, at the very least, a minimum of one pica is needed to distinguish a new paragraph. A longer indent may be desirable depending on the column width. Other options include a line space between paragraphs—or somewhat less than a line space so there is less of a gap between lines and when scanning the text for color (one problem with this is that baselines will not align, and column lengths will vary). Another method is to set the copy so that the first line of every paragraph extends beyond the left-hand margin (also known as outdents). A more unusual method that preserves ...