What is the difference between the default paragraph styles Body Text, Indented and First Line Ident? I need a paragraph style for the second paragraph of a chapter and I want to make sure I’m using the correct one. Thanks in advance!
MS 11
Version: 26.2.2.2 (X86_64)
Build ID: 1f77d10d6938fd34972958f64b2bcfa54f8b1ba5
CPU threads: 8; OS: Windows 11 X86_64 (build 26200); UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Calc: CL threaded
Did you look at the settings for each of those styles? Or perhaps try them on your document to see how they are presented?
Body Text has no indent. Body Text Indented is as the name suggests; the whole paragraph is indented. First Line Indented surprisingly has only the first line indented.
These built-in styles are provided as samples of what can be done in Writer.
Body Text is the “reference” style for all which are used in your main topic (excluding headings, captions, notes, headers, footers and TOC). All main topic styles will initially inherit their attributes from Body Text.
Body Text itself inherits from Default Paragraph Style, adding some spacing and changing line spacing. By default, you get something like this:
+ <== left margin right margin ==> +
|Lorem ipsumdolor sit amet, |
|consectetur adipiscing elit. |
Body Text, Indented adds a left indent to Body Text:
+ <== left margin right margin ==> +
| Lorem ipsumdolor sit amet, |
| consectetur adipiscing elit. |
First Line Indent also inherits from Body Text but changes only the first line:
+ <== left margin right margin ==> +
| Lorem ipsumdolor sit amet, |
|consectetur adipiscing elit. |
You also have Hanging Indent which plays both on left indent and first line to create the following effect:
+ <== left margin right margin ==> +
| Lorem ipsumdolor sit amet, |
| consectetur adipiscing elit.|
All these layouts can be customised to your needs, but try not to break the idea conveyed by the name.
What I mainly do is to balance vertical spacing between above and below paragraph. IMHO, setting only below paragraph as is done in the factory configuration is not ideal when you mix styles, e.g. heading and main discourse, because it does not fully take into consideration the semantics of adjacent styles, causing too many manual adjustments (hence dreaded direct formatting).
Thanks! Re: spacing below paragraph. I had to made a special paragraph style for my abstract page because of that (using Body Text as the parent). I added .40 cm space at the end. I’m thinking I should do that with the other styles. MLA says no spaces in between, but that gives it an unorganized look. What cm space do you use after paragraphs?
In my template used for technical documents, my Body Text is configured for 0.1 cm above and 0.1 cm below paragraph (that is, I used the factory spacing evenly split). Font is 12 pt. Face is TeX Gyre Termes (A FOSS reimplementation of URW Nimbus Roman No9 which I liked a lot – see The TeX Gyre (TG) Collection of Fonts — GUST Web Presence). To achieve a nice look (personal taste, yours may differ), I reduced line spacing to 90% for best trade-off between readability and density.
@BlissfulFormatting Your AskLO profile is not public. I can’t send you a description of my template through private mail.
You are aware that “margin collapsing” is done? That is below 0cm followed by above 2cm, or below 2cm followed by above 0cm, or below 2cm followed by above 2cm, will all result in 2cm distance.
This is not what I observe. I enabled Add spacing between paragraphs and tables in Tools>Options, LO Writer>Compatibility because it better fits my layout design.
The other setting I can play with is Do not add space between paragraphs of the same style but I am not satisfied with the result. It is a yes-no parameter where there is either “standard” spacing or none at all while I’d prefer some form of margin collapsing which would simplify my style collection. Presently, for “lists” (read: groups of paragraphs directly related to an idea), I have 3 styles: one for first item with increased spacing above, one for intermediate items, one for last item with increased spacing below. If margin collapse could be user-enabled on one specific style for “same style interaction”, I could make do with a single paragraph style instead of three.
I think that margin collapsing enabled by default is a consequence of a simplistic approach to paragraph geometry by a majority of users. They consider spacing as something “external” to paragraph, existing by itself between them. Then, it seems natural to offer margin collapse. On my side, I consider “margins” (on all 4 sides) to be an intrinsic property of the paragraph semantics. Then I don’t want some automatic processing to interfere with my intentionally crafted layout.
These are two different approaches which should be equally possible in Writer. Unfortunately, some controls are missing for my complete satisfaction.
Thanks. Your template wouldn’t fit my needs, but knowing your paragraph spacing is helpful. Also, I am using double spacing on everything for the assignment requirements. If I’m doing something for myself, the 90% spacing may help.