A Quick Note About Paragraphs

[GAD]

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):

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.

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"

 

[GGJaguar]

I think I've been adding the extra CR (enter key) to make it look "right" without giving it much thought, but I learned a lot cool stuff from your explanation!

 

[davismanLV]

Well I get a little crazy when people say $*it and then they add a photo WITHOUT A HARD RETURN AND THEN ooops, and then shove more text in there and then when it's all done....... There's this whole review thing. You can post. Then look at your post... don't look right? Fix it!!!

Oooops, did I misinterpret?? Oh damn again....

 

[davismanLV]

So Gary.... what's the take away from that? Hard return, or just give the eff up??? In normal mortal language??? Please...

 

[GAD]

So Gary.... what's the take away from that? Hard return, or just give the eff up??? In normal mortal language??? Please...

Hit enter twice after a paragraph.

I probably should have just said that from the start.

 

[fronobulax]

Interesting. I had not noticed the problem but that is probably because I discovered the "workaround" and accepted it because software is like that.

I had not noticed (or even thought about) the word processor behavior as described. That could be because I'm still running Word 2010 or it could be that I believe in WYSIWG and just beat on the text, regardless of software, until what I see is what I want.

 

[Guildedagain]

Never had an issue paragraphing here, but the Reverb site has a weird glitch that shoves your first line with subsequent passages unless a ton of spacing is used, otherwise it makes you look like you're paragraph challenged. It does it at the beginning, not in the middle, and sometimes again later in the ad.

My guess is because I'm on a computer, on Firefox, rather than on cell phone with the latest operating system.

A glitch.

 

[Sal]

I like to preview my posts before I hit go but I still end up coming back sometimes later with a cleanup edit.

 

[walrus]

I think I've been adding the extra CR (enter key) to make it look "right" without giving it much thought, but I learned a lot cool stuff from your explanation!

This.

walrus

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Standing by for the quick note!

 

[Roland]

I try, but I've gotten lazy. My problem is that I have an Editor that takes care of any mistakes in spelling, punctuation, or formatting that I might make and I've come to depend on her. She draws the line at forum posts though, so I'm hung out to dry. What you get here is the unpolished me.

 

[zulu]

There must be an app that makes your keyboard sound like an old typewriter with the bell and the clunky carriage return.

 

[dreadnut]

I've posed this before: Tips For Writing

TIPS FOR WRITING
Don’t use no double negatives.
Don’t abbrev.
Check to make sure you haven’t anything out.
Personally, in my opinion, a writer or essayist should not make use of too many words or phrases which he does not necessarily need in most cases.
Don’t write run on sentences you have to use punctuation.
About fragments.
In a series to separate independent clauses (with a coordinating conjunction like and but and for and so) before a direct address or quotation and after an introductory element you should use commas.
Don’t, use commas, where they are, unnecessary.
Use semi colons; only between; independent clauses; don’t scatter them about; indiscriminately.
A writer mustn’t shift your point of view.
Keep your tense consistent. You didn’t want to shift from present to past tense.
A noun must agree with their antecedents.
In good writing, a noun and a verb agrees with each other.
Poor speling in your writting makes a bad impression on alot of reeders.
Slang freaks out some readers and grosses out others, so can it!
Don’t repeat; don’t be redundant. Don’t say the same thing twice; say something only once. In other words, don’t be repetitious. Repeating is something you shouldn’t do.
Writing dangling modifiers, the reader will be confused.
Be sure to leave one clear noun reference for each pronoun. This is important.
Keep your margins.
Don’t indent except for a new paragraph.
Parallel construction is important and to be a guide in writing sentences.
Last but not least, lay off cliches.

 

[5thumbs]

Excellent!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I've posed this before: Tips For Writing

TIPS FOR WRITING
Don’t use no double negatives.
Don’t abbrev.
Check to make sure you haven’t anything out.
Personally, in my opinion, a writer or essayist should not make use of too many words or phrases which he does not necessarily need in most cases.
Don’t write run on sentences you have to use punctuation.
About fragments.
In a series to separate independent clauses (with a coordinating conjunction like and but and for and so) before a direct address or quotation and after an introductory element you should use commas.
Don’t, use commas, where they are, unnecessary.
Use semi colons; only between; independent clauses; don’t scatter them about; indiscriminately.
A writer mustn’t shift your point of view.
Keep your tense consistent. You didn’t want to shift from present to past tense.
A noun must agree with their antecedents.
In good writing, a noun and a verb agrees with each other.
Poor speling in your writting makes a bad impression on alot of reeders.
Slang freaks out some readers and grosses out others, so can it!
Don’t repeat; don’t be redundant. Don’t say the same thing twice; say something only once. In other words, don’t be repetitious. Repeating is something you shouldn’t do.
Writing dangling modifiers, the reader will be confused.
Be sure to leave one clear noun reference for each pronoun. This is important.
Keep your margins.
Don’t indent except for a new paragraph.
Parallel construction is important and to be a guide in writing sentences.
Last but not least, lay off cliches.

And dangling prepositions are something up with which we will not put!

 

[Nuuska]

And dangling prepositions are something up with which we will not put!

I thought it was the flip side of Simon & Garfunkel single