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Dick Margulis wrote: <<Several people have alluded to space before
and/or after body paragraphs... My Body Text style has no space before
or after, but it has an indent for the first line. You know, just like
a regular friggin' paragraph in a regular friggin' book.>>
That's my preference too, but we both have to recognize that this may
not conform with everyone else's worldview. Many years ago, I got into
a discussion with an author about between-paragraph spacing (his
preference) vs. using first-line indents (mine) instead, and we agreed
that rather than coming to blows over this, we should actually <gasp>
do some audience research.
Anecdotal (unscientific) results: To my everlasting surprise, I
discovered that a large majority of my audience preferred the space
between paragraphs. The audience was biased strongly towards the
over-40 crowd, and there was a strong correlation between age and the
desire for space between paragraphs. (That is, the older readers wanted
the spacing; the younger readers couldn't care less, but had a slight
preference for no spacing.) Asking why revealed that the alterkockers
found it easier to read with paragraph spacing; it wasn't an esthetics
issue.
Please don't take this as a blanket recommendation to use spaces
between paragraphs. Small sample size, unique audience, specific book
design. Just one data point, not a complete Hart's Law of Page Layout.
<<But that's just me, tilting against windmills as usual...>>
So the moral of the story, Don Quixote: I'll be right behind you on my
<ahem> donkey, but let's not forget that sometimes the windmills are
right. <g>
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