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Ok, this is where I am.....
I've got a 72,000 word novel ready to send off, all left-aligned. it's been pointed out to me that I need to indent the start of each paragraph 5 spaces. Don't use 'tab' I've been told.
How do I do this without manually tapping the space bar 5 times at the start of each paragraph and when the dialogue is changing every line or so?
Hope it's possible, or I could be here some time........ (Aaaaarrrrgghhhh!!!)
Comments
Try this: http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/mw/s5p1.html
It is possible to have it done automatically.
Have changed the setting and am making faster progress than I dared imagine I would.
At least I won't be making that mistake again.....! ;)
(I vaguely remember one magazine that specifically said in it's guidelines not to use tabs.)
Does anyone know why can't you use 'tab' if it's set to the right number?
Wordprocessors contain fixed-width fonts, proportionally spaced fonts, widow-orphan control, and justification settings. Five spaces doesn't mean what you think it means to to wordprocessor - do not do it.
First Paragraph of a new chapter (MS Word); [Format], [Paragraph], Indentation -0, Special -(none).
Subsequent Paragraphs; [Format], [Paragraph], Indentation, -0, Special - (First line).
Do not use spaces. Do not use tabs.
on new MS Word you go to the paragraph settings and there is an option for first line indent. Also there is a tick box at the bottom of that window saying do not leavce a space after paragraphs... tick that and you'll be fine... then click default and you have your default for every document. But you'll need to retick the paragraph space one everytime!!
Has been explained to me that indents are needed mainly because it's difficult to tell when a page finishes with a full stop, whether the top of the next page is a new paragraph or not.
Have also read that hyphens cause problems during typesetting and should therefore not be used.
Complicated, innit?
I have always assumed that is probably do with how they edit for their particular system.
It's do with how the 'instruction' is handled and translated by different software.
A TAB instruction means: Start this text at the first TAB point (look in the style data to find out where the first TAB point is) Different stylesheets may specify different TAB spaces, when text is pasted into another document it all becomes a mess.
A 'FIRST LINE INDENT' instruction translates better: If [new line after C/R, start this lime 12.7mm from the L/H margin].
I'm quite sure you've imported and exported text and it's ended up a mess.
I always use 0.5cm which looks about right.
Is it okay to go by the standard Microsoft Word (i.e. default) setting, which I believe is 2.54 cm (one inch).
Am I right?