Why can I not have a paragraph indentation in any of my pieces of writing?

1. 74

   Mr. Happyposted 13 years ago

   Why can I not have a paragraph indentation in any of my pieces of writing?
   
   Does Hub-pages not like paragraph indentations? All my writing has it when I paste it over but then, when I save: poof! Hub-pages changes it over to the same boring look, with every letter starting on the same line (vertical line that is).
   So, is there any way to go around that or is paragraph indentation against the religious beliefs of Hub-pages and punishable by ... who knows ...
   Thank you in advance for any advice. Cheers!

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2. 76

   Uninvited Writerposted 13 years ago

   People who read online really don't care about indentations. Besides, their computers may read it differently. It's a carry-over from print publishing where it is still used.

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3. 74

   Mr. Happyposted 13 years ago

   Greetings Univited Writer, writing is a form of art for me - indentations in my writing is part of the way I express myself (through the art of writing) and taking it out is basically changing the form of my expression (it is a way of editing my writing - an unnecessary thing in my opinion).
   Your comment about "People who read online really don't care about indentations" is a generalization. If nobody cared, I would not have asked this question to begin with ...
   Also, the comment about "Besides, their computers may read it differently" is irrelevant. I do not write to make a penny on Hub-pages. I write because I love writing. I do not write for any sort of audience and I could care less how people's computers portray writing on their screen. I write because I have been writing for decades and it is a hobby, something I love doing. I do not do it for anyone in specific. If people do read what I write, I am of course thankful for it but that does not change my attitude towards my writing.
   I hope thins explains things a little better - thank you for your opinion though. I think your thinking was a little more technical than mine. All good, cheers!

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4. 0

   Poetic Foolposted 13 years ago

   The basic edit box that HubPages provides doesn't allow for indentation.  However, you can write your hub in another editor like Notepad, Wordpad, etc. and format it how you like.  Then cut and paste in into the Hubpages edit box after selecting the 'Preformatted' option from the droplist.  The text you paste in should retain the formatting from the original editor.  There may be limitations to what preformatting it retains but it works for indentations.  That much i have tested.  Good luck!

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5. 72

   davenmidtownposted 13 years ago

   Mr. Happy:  You may enjoy this... it may be a way to fool the computer... instead of using the indent or tab use five spaces.  The spaces are visible to the computer but not to us. so it things something is over there.

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6. 89

   Marisa Wrightposted 13 years ago

   You're probably in my age group - over fifties?  We grew up with paragraph indentations and I agree, it's hard to get used to the modern way of leaving a blank line between each paragraph, with no indentation. But that's what it is - the modern way.  Sometimes we just have to accept that we're old-fashioned...
   
   Whether or not your first line is indented makes no difference to the meaning of your words, trust me.

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7. 60

   capricornrisingposted 13 years ago

   I'm afraid the Hubpages HTML editor only allows certain formatting tags, and these do not include paragraph indentation. My feeling is that it's a way for Hubpages to retain a uniform feel to their many pages, which I absolutely understand.
   
   I also would have preferred the option to indent each paragraph, by the way, but I've found other ways to express what I want to express without the feature. Perhaps one day Hubpages will allow it.

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