Paragraph gradient not applied as intended

[Christianehn]

So, I am trying to apply various gradient backgrounds to some lists to help me with visual attention to them. I am new to this though, and cannot seem to get it to apply properly. I assume it is because I am unintentionally defining separate paragraphs by using the enter key, but I do not see how I can avoid it. The result comes out like the top paragraph in this picture, with separate gradient backgrounds being applied to every new line:

Now what I cannot for the life of me figure out is why I suddenly got it to work in the bottom paragraph, not really doing anything different (in fairness, it might just be that it looks less hideous but still formatted in an unintentional way). (I had to amalgamate the paragraphs since new users are only allowed one picture). Other times I have gotten the gradient to display as intended but upon saving and reopening the file it is once again applied ‘wrong’. Is there an easy way to simply mark text and apply a background?

EDIT: LO version is 7.4.6.2 OS is win 10 home 64-bit. ODT example file uploaded. I format manually (or what I assume is meant by that).
examplefileCEquestion.odt (46.8 KB)

[ajlittoz]

Unfortunately it is impossible to answer your question due to lack of factual information. Please, edit your quetion (= modify it through the use of the “pencil” tool available under the … icon) to add following information:

• OS name
• LO version
• save format (.odt or .doc(x))

Mention if you format your document with styles or manually (i’d guess the latter way because you space vertically with empty paragraphs)

For optimal diagnosis, attach a 1- or 2-page sample file.

[ajlittoz]

I don’t understand exactly what you want to achieve. Must the empty paragraphs have no gradient background?

If you’re bothered by the darker horizontal line, it comes from the definition of the gradient. It is a linear-type but it is slanted at 30° angle. This means that a pixel at bottom of paragraph is not in the same state as the corresponding pixel at top of next paragraph. They have not the same color, resulting in a visual line at the discontinuity. Set the angle at 90* (vertical banding) to minimise the effect (though it does not disappear totally).

The bottom gradient is square-type with 45° slant angle which happens to be the best symmetrical angle.

All in all, your document is absolutely totally direct formatting which will need a tremendous amount of work to tune its layout and formatting. You should learn how to use styles, at least paragraph and character ones, to ease your task.

Also Default Paragraph Style should not be used for any text. The standard paragraph style for that is Text Body. Due to internal relationships between styles, Default Paragraph Style is the ancestor of all other styles. Its role is to define your preferred default settings which are forwarded to all others (unless some parameters are overridden is some descendant styles). Changing parameters in Default Paragraph Style has generally undesired effects on other styles.

Don’t use empty paragraphs to vertically space your text. This vertical space is a property of the paragraph style. Therefore, for different significance in paragraphs (discourse, description, comment, …), use a different paragraph style with its own specific spacing.

I recommend you read the Writer Guide.

[Christianehn]

Thank you for your answer. I am content with knowing what the ‘problem’ is, and to simply minimise it with the settings. The document is only for my personal studies and I use various gradients and single-colour backgrounds to help me find my way around the document. Again, thank you for your time.

[ajlittoz]

For complete understanding of this topic by future visitors, could you confirm that the problem was the darker lines in the group of paragraphs?

[Christianehn]

Yes. Solution was to apply a different gradient type that looks acceptable for the purpose.