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I've helped some people individually in the past with this, but I'm seeing a lot of the same thing recently and figured a generic message might help. The problem is paragraphs, or more accurately, how forum software differs from word processors when it comes to paragraphs. Allow me to demonstrate. Imagine that I have a two paragraphs that look like this (shown without formatting for clarity):
In the old days we would indent the first line of each paragraph so that it's easier to see where a new paragraph begins, but that style is not considered current for web and most book content, and that's due mostly to how "smart" systems are and how font size and spacing can be variable. For example, we no longer use space-space after a period because modern software automatically adds a space-and-a-half.
A word processor can (and usually is) configured to add a line (actually some number of "points", actually) at the end of a paragraph, thus making paragraphs visually separate from each other and thus easier to read. The problem in a nutshell is that Xenforo doesn't do that. As a result, the two paragraphs typed one after the other end up looking like this:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.[
Depending on how wide your screen is, if there's a page full of text, the resulting wall of words is almost unreadable. The solution (workaround, really, for reasons I'll touch on in a minute) is to add another carriage-return after each paragraph. By hitting <enter> twice after each paragraph, you get this instead:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.[
Why is this a workaround and not a solution? Because the real solution is for Xenforo to treat each typed paragraph as a freaking paragraph and surround it with <p></p> tags instead of just a long string of text with <CR>s* buried within, but I didn't write the code so here we are. Really, a <CR><CR> pair should be converted to a <p> to keep the ability to have a single <CR> inline, but whatever.
* <CR> is "Carriage Return"
Code:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Code:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
In the old days we would indent the first line of each paragraph so that it's easier to see where a new paragraph begins, but that style is not considered current for web and most book content, and that's due mostly to how "smart" systems are and how font size and spacing can be variable. For example, we no longer use space-space after a period because modern software automatically adds a space-and-a-half.
A word processor can (and usually is) configured to add a line (actually some number of "points", actually) at the end of a paragraph, thus making paragraphs visually separate from each other and thus easier to read. The problem in a nutshell is that Xenforo doesn't do that. As a result, the two paragraphs typed one after the other end up looking like this:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.[
Depending on how wide your screen is, if there's a page full of text, the resulting wall of words is almost unreadable. The solution (workaround, really, for reasons I'll touch on in a minute) is to add another carriage-return after each paragraph. By hitting <enter> twice after each paragraph, you get this instead:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.[
Why is this a workaround and not a solution? Because the real solution is for Xenforo to treat each typed paragraph as a freaking paragraph and surround it with <p></p> tags instead of just a long string of text with <CR>s* buried within, but I didn't write the code so here we are. Really, a <CR><CR> pair should be converted to a <p> to keep the ability to have a single <CR> inline, but whatever.
* <CR> is "Carriage Return"