Indented text

Hi All,
        I am fairly new to the list and have been sclurking (this is a mix
between scanning and lurking :).  I was directed to this list because I was
interested in a method of indentation of text.

        From what I have found so far, I have not seen what I was looking
for.  I had something in mind like this :

Either a new tag  <INDENT first=  left=  right=  ></INDENT>

That would allow for indents ...

Or even adding it to one of the othe tags like the <div> or <p> 

I wanted it to be something along these lines

-----------------------

When used alone

<INDENT>
some text
multiple lines of it perhaps
<P>
some more text
<INDENT>

that it would by default indent the first line of each paragraph about the
distance of what a <LI> is indented when inside a list, but ofcourse, there
would be no bullet.

if any of the values are set, they would work this way

first=

by default it would be the same as the indent space of the <li> inside of a
list, but could be set to zero for no first line indent if so desired.  I
would also thing that it should be able to have a set value or a % value.

left=

This would indent all lines after the first line in from the left to the set
distance and should include set values or % values.  It also should include
a value of left=first so that it would indent the same as the first line
whatever that setting is.

right=

This would indent all lines after the first line in from the right to the
set distance and should include set values or % values.

--------------

This type of a tag, although some may argue that it has do do with layout
not content, would do far more that the <blockquote> does since you could
left or right weight a group of text.

It would also allow for things like NOT indenting the first line, but
indenting all the rest.

Sure, some of this could be done with tables, but why should they have to
be, when a table is more cumbersome than a tag as simple as this one.

I know that many are of the idea that we should be only concerned witrh
content and not layout, while others are deep into "visual asthetics" and
less on content.  However, if content and not appearance is the driving
force behind the web, then why did the great growth beging only after
"graphical browsers" came to the fore.  As much as many of us may not want
to agree with it, the visual aspect is a growing factor of page design, and
there is no reason to think this trend will go away any time soon.

I also think that a tag like this is simpler to use than the "style sheet"
implementation.  After all, why re-invent the wheel :)

(please - all flames in private)

Thank you for your indulgence in such a long post.

John Hicks - jhicks@afn.org 
Member of the HTML Writers Guild
Let me De-Bug your HTML code (it will save you time and make us both $$)
nuqDaq yuch Dapol  -  ( NOOK-dak  yooch da-POL )

Received on Wednesday, 13 March 1996 18:50:56 UTC