Google Docs Fundamentals

Google Docs Fundamentals
Formatting Paragraphs
We’ve learned about fonts, formatting text and styles
in the previous lessons. In this lesson we bring it all
together and learn about formatting paragraphs. Paragraphs
are of two kinds. There are paragraphs with the
indented first line and paragraphs without a first line
indent. The later paragraph format is often referred to
as block formatting. Paragraphs with indented first lines
tend to be used for fiction text and block formatting is
often used for non-fiction text.
When formatting paragraphs there are some basic
rules. Those rules have changed over time to adapt to
modern technology. When we were in school teachers
told us to indent our first paragraph about half an inch
or about the width of your thumb. This is because we
were often using pen or pencil and paper. When we
took keyboarding in a typing class we learned that the
first line indent was one tab stop.
With technology, the rules have changed for a variety of
reasons and the biggest reason has more to do with the
fonts we use to compose on computers. I won’t go into
that here but at the end of the issue I have a brief overview
of why fonts have changed the world of writing
with word processors.
The first line indent with modern word processors is
one Pica. Picas are used in the world of desktop publishing
but are often used with plain old word processing.
A pica is equivalent to two spaces. This is different from
a tab stop which is five spaces. Why two spaces or one
Pica? I explain all that at the end of this issue. In brief,
five spaces is too much of an indent and leaves a large
hole in our writing.
What about the spacing between paragraphs? In school
we were taught to skip one line on our paper between
paragraphs. On a type writer we were taught the same
thing. There was some difference and it depended on
how you were taught. If you indented paragraphs, you
might have been told not to skip a space. In the world
of word processing the rules are similar but modified
to accommodate modern typography. The common
way most people are taught to skip a space between
paragraphs is to press the enter key twice. This is a hold
over from the type writer days and old habits are hard
to break.
Another hold over from the days of the typewriter is
the use of two spaces after a period. There is only one
space used after a period.
Now that we’ve reviewed how it used to be, let’s learn
how it should be done.
Digital Maestro 10