14

A colleague explained to me that it is a typographical rule to not set an indent for the first line of the very first paragraph of a text, the one that starts right after the headline. Instead, the indentation should start with the second paragraph. However, I am finding examples in various publications where the indentation starts right with the first paragraph. Then again, others do it the way it was told me.

Is there a "right" way to do it, and if so, why? If not, what are the advantages/disadvantages of either method?

Indent in first paragraph Indent in second paragraph

5
  • 6
    Note also that typographical traditions are often language dependent, and I think that French and English best practices are different on this specific point (French indent first paragraph and English speaker don’t). I don’t know what the German best practices are on this. Dec 11, 2016 at 17:14
  • Living abroad for years now, but all our commercial books from Germany follow this old rule: First paragraph or "beginnings" no indent, and then anything "after a line of whitespace" (Durchschuss) or after some illustration or after other visual break break in the text-flow, no indent. This way we can distinguish between "major" paragraph breaks and minor breaks. To me, having "the corner eaten away" on the top-left of a block of text, looks wrong because looks "broken". There is no point in indenting after an obvious break. Jun 14, 2017 at 12:34
  • I thank you for this question, because obviously there are users who need to handle this complex situation: Certain paragraphs get indented, other ones - depending on context - will not get indented. In Scribus so far we can set a style to indent EACH first line but not according to context. So either a designer has to create another style (easy) and then manually find all the "first paragraphs" (a bad chore) or use some other workaround. I will use this page when I will soon make a feature proposal for Scribus (which is otherwise already awesome). Jun 14, 2017 at 12:49
  • It's not a rule so much as a convention and currently practiced by many. I understand that it is an artifact from a time when first-letters of paragraphs were illuminated artwork or in red (rubric). Block paragraphs use a linespace for separation which I feel is too jarring
    – Stan
    Aug 5, 2017 at 23:57
  • 1
    Same question on Writing SE.
    – Wrzlprmft
    May 21, 2020 at 10:34

4 Answers 4

14

First of all, the point of indenting the first line of paragraphs is to help the reader distinguish adjacent paragraphs when reading or skimming the text. Doing this in addition to not justifying the last line of a paragraph has several advantages:

  • The non-justified line may still take up almost the entire linewidth.

  • It is helpful to have some sort of orientation at the left side of the paragraph to help your brain find the right line to continue. If you only have a straight wall of text on the left side of the paragraph, it is more difficult to find the correct line.

  • Not justifying the last line of a paragraph does not work with unjustified text. While the last line is still shorter on average, there will be cases which are impossible to identify as a last line of a paragraph.

Obviously, this advantage does not apply to the first paragraph. Here you have the following dilemma:

  • Indenting the first paragraph causes some optical dissonance because the gaps in the left side of a text block are unbalanced: You start with a gap, but you do not end with one (unless you have an orphan which is bad for another reason). Also the point where you have to start reading is somewhat more difficult to find: For example, if you follow the left edge of the paragraph to the top, you will end up at the second, not the first line.

  • Not indenting the first paragraph makes paragraph formatting somewhat inconsistent.

In my opinion, the first problem is more severe, but that’s, well, just my opinion.

0
10

There is no hard-and-fast rule or requirement which applies to every situation. It's house style, or up to the designer if there is no established style. Either one is fine. While I personally might lean toward having no indent on the first paragraph of a chapter, if it's just a new section with a headline, I'd use one.

I would not, however, indent the headline or deck as in your first example. Indents are for the beginning of paragraphs within body copy to set off the beginning of a new thought in a large running block of text. A headline should already be set off by virtue of its placement, size, and perhaps weight, color, and/or font. Indenting the headline to match the paragraph indent looks like a mistake.

6
  • @DaG comments are temporary and we're required to clean them from Q&As. I didn't remove your comments but glancing at them the edit Lauren made resolved your discussion so the comments no longer served their purpose so they were removed.
    – user9447
    Dec 12, 2016 at 15:50
  • 2
    Fine, thanks for explaining. In my experience, other SE sites tend to keep the comments (unless offensive etc.), but I'm perfectly happy with this system.
    – DaG
    Dec 12, 2016 at 15:55
  • @DaG we are designers and care about how the site renders =P
    – user9447
    Dec 12, 2016 at 16:00
  • 1
    @DᴀʀᴛʜVᴀᴅᴇʀ ...comments are temporary? That must be only here. I've seen comment threads (with multiple people) which go 15 or 20 deep on other stacks. I don't object if they comments are removed; it just surprised me to hear that the mods are doing it. Dec 12, 2016 at 18:39
  • 1
    Thats up to them but all mods are supposed to clean comments if they are no longer useful. If comments add value to an answer or question we leave them
    – user9447
    Dec 12, 2016 at 18:41
6

2.3.1 Set opening paragraphs flush left

“The function of a paragraph indent is to mark a pause, setting the paragraph apart from what precedes it. If a paragraph is preceded by a title or subhead, the indent is superfluous and can therefore be omitted.”

From The Elements of Typographic Style: Version 4.0 by Robert Bringhurst

This was considered the bible of typography in my university design courses, I reference it constantly. Notice Bringhurst says “...can therefore be omitted.” Just about any rule can and should be broken if it supports the content of the text.

3

Don't indent the first paragraph of an article after the headline. The whole point of an indent is to tell the reader you are starting a new paragraph. With the first paragraph this is already clear, and as such it's unnecessary and redundant.

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.