Re: indents

At 9:52 AM -0700 4/14/97, Greg Kostello wrote:

> For example, suppose you want to describe
> every other paragraph as having some special stylistic treatment (say a
> background shade of gray). I think we need a way of specifying style as
> applying to a pattern in a sequence of elements. Opinions?

One thing I miss most about print in on-screen reading is the arbitrary
interval of right/left (recto/verso) pages. It rarely has anything to do
with structure, but it provides topographical [sic] markers useful in
pacing, orientation, and in recollection. Think of a passage in a book you
remember from 5 years ago. Chances are, you remember its position in the
book spread, and perhaps its depth into the book. You can find it quickly
by fixing your eye on the spot and flipping rapidly through a short range.

It's important to support text-based search facilities, too, of course, but
I don't want to see one strategy obsolete the other.

A popular effect on many prose-intensive sites (Slate, for instance) is to
stagger paragraphs left and right, presumably to restore some of these
markers to the reading experience. I enjoy it, personally.

This is by way of saying "yes" - I think style patterns could be useful.


Todd Fahrner
mailto:fahrner@pobox.com
http://www.verso.com

Received on Monday, 14 April 1997 13:39:29 UTC