InDesign Type: Professional Typography with Adobe® InDesign®, Second Edition

Chapter 8. Paragraph Indents and Spacing

TYPOGRAPHY, LIKE ALL COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA, relies on established conventions that are understood, often unconsciously, by its audience. The manipulation of horizontal or vertical space through indents or spacing creates important visual cues that distinguish one paragraph from another. Paragraphs represent units of thought, and a new paragraph signals the reader that a new idea is coming. While there are several ways to indicate a new paragraph, two methods are most prevalent: indenting the first line and adding spacing before the paragraph. In this chapter I’m primarily concerned with the hows and whys of these two time-honored conventions, but I also look at the use of other types of indents for differentiating ...