-
1. Re: Paragraph style for a poem
P Spier Oct 6, 2011 8:14 AM (in response to Gernot Hoffmann)Don't use an "empty line," use space after or space before. Each verse should be a single paragraph with forced line breaks, not paragraph breaks at the end of the lines, except the last line.
-
2. Re: Paragraph style for a poem
Gernot Hoffmann Oct 6, 2011 9:56 AM (in response to P Spier)Thanks Peter,
that works fine - as 'specified'.
Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann
-
3. Re: Paragraph style for a poem
David W. Goodrich Oct 6, 2011 6:58 PM (in response to Gernot Hoffmann)Peter's "Each verse should be a single paragraph with forced line breaks" breaks down when turnover lines need to be indented. I've made such indents work with em-spaces or custom tabs, but if I expect turnovers I usually prefer to run single lines as paragraphs so I can rely on whatever hanging indent I define. But that means special paragraph styles for the first and last lines of a verse to control space above/below.
David
-
4. Re: Paragraph style for a poem
Gernot Hoffmann Oct 7, 2011 12:49 AM (in response to David W. Goodrich)David,
personally I'm not an expert for typesetting. Therefore I'm grateful for
any advice. Your post led me to think again about my suggested
method in post #0, which seems to be useful as well.
Type single lines as paragraphs (Paragraph Return)
Type an empty line after each verse as paragraph.
Select all and assign a Paragraph Style 'Poem-12-auto'
Select empty lines and assign a Paragraph Style 'Poem-12-8'
Changing the leading in Poem-12-8 for instance from 8pt to 6pt
reduces the vertical space simultaneously in all empty lines, without
the need to select them.
The only advantage of this mode is, that I can maintain my habit,
ending lines by an ordinary Enter.
Best regards --Gernot Hoffmann
-
5. Re: Paragraph style for a poem
[Ariel] Oct 7, 2011 2:36 AM (in response to David W. Goodrich)"But that means special paragraph styles for the first and last lines of
a verse to control space above/below."
You may want to file a feature request (as I have) for an option "Don't
add space between paragraphs of the same style" -- in which case it
wouldn't be necessary to have more than one style with space above and
below defined. And there are many other similar cases (bulleted lists etc.)
-
6. Re: Paragraph style for a poem
RodneyA Oct 7, 2011 2:36 PM (in response to [Ariel])The problem with entering empty lines is that they misbehave at page breaks -- not a problem with single-page poems, but if you have a multiple-page poem, and it happens to break at the page, your second page may start with a blank line and the top line of each pages won't align... which is sloppy work.
I'd go with two paragraph styles, one with and one without space before. You can use "quick apply" to change the style of lines that need space before them. By redefining the style you can adjust the amount of space globally.
-
7. Re: Paragraph style for a poem
David W. Goodrich Oct 9, 2011 11:25 AM (in response to Gernot Hoffmann)I agree with RodneyA and Peter about the potential for empty lines to cause problems: I've been burned, and avoid them whenever possible.
In post #3 I spoke of using special paragraph styles for the first and last lines of verse. That is the generic way to add space above and below without using empty lines. Often, the extra spacing I add around various kinds of extracts is half a line, and often I already have a special version of my regular body-text paragraph with this same half-line above (for a text break, say, or for after a numbered list whose paragraphs get half a line above plus a hanging indent). With the half-line available that way, I don't need a special last-line-of-poem paragraph style to add it, and I can get by with just the first-line-of-poem paragraph style to separate a poem from body text above, or one verse from another.
I'm as wary as the next guy about paragraph styles multiplying like rabbits. Yes, I use Paragraph Style Groups, but working with multiple files (and ID "Books") I find they have their own problems: if I am not really careful copying material between files I can end up with multiple instances of the same style, Grouped and otherwise.
David
Message was edited by: David W. Goodrich, adding "and Peter"




