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Subject:Re: Space Before and After? From:David Neeley <dbneeley -at- gmail -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 25 Jan 2005 19:46:46 -0600
The "all space before" rule seems fairly logical...so long as your
software won't insert the "space before" on the pages where a new
paragraph begins a page.
The more I work at this, the more I return to the concept of the
layout grid I was taught when I was beginning. Thus, as Dick has so
competently explained, I work in multiples of some basic space (in
points).
Much depends on the font selection, since there is such a visual
difference in fonts of the same point size but different x-heights.
However, the line leading also depends upon the width of the column.
The wider the column, generally, the more leading may be required to
keep the eye from "getting lost" in reading across the line.
Once I have set up the basic document design grid...including type
specifications...I turn to defining the various styles that will be
used.
I have observed that many "technical types" have become accustomed to
the "block style" with no indentation but with a full space between
paragraphs. In addition, traditional typesetting values for the
"m-dash" and for paragraph indents often result in values that appear
quite wide to the contemporary eye.
As the heading styles are set up, if the entire space above -- heading
line -- space after unit is following the grid as a full multiple of
the base line leading, the results are normally nearly automatic in
being pleasing to the eye.
For printed docs, too, I have found that allowing wider margins than
you might at first consider is often appreciated by the users. That
gives them plenty of space to write comments and notes that become the
"real" documentation for many!
David
On Tue, 25 Jan 2005 17:00:07 -0500, David Chinell <dchinell -at- msn -dot- com> wrote:
>
> One should always use space before and rarely use
> space after.
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