Paragraphs
Hey all,
I have always liked paragraphs split from eachother, but also indented.
Now a yrear or so ago i was told that in print, Paragraphs are either spaced apart OR indented, the point being one or the other and not both.
This is an old print rule, is it an accessibility issue too? I would think spacing would be eaiser on say dislexics... but the indents I always thought "looked" better.
So for the project I am working on I am debating how to handle it as the State look and Feel calls for a grey text on white that I feel is already borderline hard to read.
Any thoughts?
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[size=9]Kyle J. Lamson
Analyst/Programmer III, State of Alaska
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| lsw wrote: |
| Hey all,
I have always liked paragraphs split from eachother, but also indented. Now a yrear or so ago i was told that in print, Paragraphs are either spaced apart OR indented, the point being one or the other and not both. [snip] Any thoughts? |
Over the last few years I've been converting articles from old (30-40 years old) copies of a magazine into HTML so that they're available to a modern audience.
Until recently, the 'house style' of the magazine was to both seperate the paragraphs and also indent the first line of each.
The current house style is to seperate paragraphs, but not indent.
In other words, I would say that the layout is down to 'house style' rather than any 'rule'.
So, I'd suggest that you just go with the house style of the organisation that you're working with.
I can't see it being an accessibility issue.
.
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Point taken...
This was someone in the print industry who said that to me a few years ago.
Indent is not a problem, but I can see that, especially with a grey text, paragraphs meeting can be an issue.
I am also thinking in the old "this is what people expect so it is a psuedo-standard" way and how we sometimes speak of the misuse of things on the web that have a certain meening in print.
So sort of checking to see if thier is something I might be overseeing.
Thanks for the input.
(In House would be a group of non-web literate people who expect us to make the app look like the word documents they write... hence we should underline what they underline and use colors and... I am creating a web application that is based on a piece of paper they currently mail out! LOL)
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[size=9]Kyle J. Lamson
Analyst/Programmer III, State of Alaska
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Unindented paragraphs are friendlier for scan reading. Indention for block quotations and list items helps to set them apart at a glance. These are usability issues, imho.
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Thanks Ben.--
[size=9]Kyle J. Lamson
Analyst/Programmer III, State of Alaska
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| Quote: |
| Unindented paragraphs are friendlier for scan reading. Indention for block quotations and list items helps to set them apart at a glance. |
Whats this based on?
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| Cerbera wrote: |
| Unindented paragraphs are friendlier for scan reading. Indention for block quotations and list items helps to set them apart at a glance. These are usability issues, imho. |
my personal preferences (so I'm not saying this is "how it should be", merely how I personally find it easier) are for paragraphs to be clearly spaced on the web.
It doesn't bother me whether paragraphs are indented or not, although in particularly long texts (e.g. articles, dissertations etc) without frequent headings, I find that if indentation is used as well this helps break up the page more clearly.
So for me, I'd always use spacing, and I'd maybe use indentation depending on the circumstances. But I'd certainly not use indentation instead of spacing.
But like I say, I'm not dyslexic/low vision/etc etc so these are just my personal reading preferences.
Jack Pickard The Pickards Information Services| Blog | Twit
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| Quote: |
| It doesn't bother me whether paragraphs are indented or not, although in particularly long texts (e.g. articles, dissertations etc) without frequent headings, I find that if indentation is used as well this helps break up the page more clearly. |
Yep. This is the case for me too (and I am dyslexic), but I can't remember where I read/heard it (i.e. I believe this correlates with studies, but I can't remember which)
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Dyslexics were the most obvious reason I could think of for the issue.
The Project manager is positive on accessibility, but it is a closed internal system where they can and do require certain things to use it and it is not covered by Sec. 508. So some working on it are not interested in building in accessibiliy and I am trying to do what I can where I can. Being a State Gov. site it does use some really dry, long text. The State goes with 508 but this is a web application so does not fall under it.
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[size=9]Kyle J. Lamson
Analyst/Programmer III, State of Alaska
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Erratic indentation is a big problem for dyslexics. But simple 'logical' indenting certainly helps me, and I believe I'm the norm on that. So its a question of degree.
Even 'logical' indentation can become a problem if there's a lot of rules, and diverse content on the page. e.g. http://www.w3.org/WAI/ While decent markup and fair design for v.i. screen-reader users (I believe) and a really 'good site', this is a very difficult site to read if you're dyslexic.
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Point taken.
I am working on two elements:
1) A Grant appication - this is 5 pages of listed information to be double checked and a couple data tables.
2) An approval page that the grant approver will use to check thedata and OK it to be sent as an email to the grantee saying it is approved.
The approval page is mostly what I am thinking of as it is a few paragraphs o burocrat speak.
The application is mostly lists tables and such. So a general text page would be OK indenting, it would be clear...
... but a page with allot of lists and tables etc would be to erratic and the indentation may cause the page to be "more messy" and therefore not as useful. That about sum up your point Phil? If so, I can see that as an issue. Thanks for the thought.
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[size=9]Kyle J. Lamson
Analyst/Programmer III, State of Alaska
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pretty much 
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Cheers--
[size=9]Kyle J. Lamson
Analyst/Programmer III, State of Alaska
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I've not read this yet, but it looks interesting...
http://www.angelfire.com/tn3/writing/DesignUsersReadDis.pdf
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| Phil Teare wrote: | ||
|
Bullets help draw attention. List items must therefore be intended so there's space for the bullets.
If you don't indent block quotations, they will look like normal content at a glance.
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