Re: [Groff] Re: UTP paragraph spacing

[Ralph Corderoy]

Hi Meg,

> > As a bit of an aside, I find when reading that my eye automatically
> > skips headings, e.g. a chapter heading after turning the page.  Most
> > of the time I don't notice doing this, but sometimes I find I don't
> > know enough context from what I'm reading and realise that I skipped
> > over it.
> > 
> > Whether this is influenced by the style of the headings I don't
> > know.  Perhaps it's just me locking onto what is the most `natural',
> > in terms of appearance, to read.
> 
> How fascinating!  Exactly the opposite of how I read -- I'm sure there
> is a fascinating epistomological/psychological issue uncovered here!
> 
> So do you prefer indented paragraphs with no space between them in
> technical books or the block paragraphs?

I like the appearance of Kernighan's books, i.e. traditional layout.
This is despite them being full of code excerpts, tables, and boxed
displays.

Some O'Reilly books use block paragraphs with a blank line and I find
them slightly uncomfortable to read.  It also seems to give the
impression of `padding' to increase the shelf-inches taken up in the
bookshop.  And over the years O'Reilly books have seemed to get steadily
thicker.

Cheers,


Ralph.