How to Break up the Text with stuff between paragraphs

1. 87

   Pamela Kinnaird Wposted 14 years ago

   A very kind soul noticed a month ago that I need to learn how to break up my text with photos or something between the paragraphs when my text is long.  She explained how to do it.  I tried and couldn't grasp it.  Then I misplaced or accidentally deleted her email -- so I haven't been able to try again.  I have now looked at the Learning Center and put in some phrases to try to get some help on this but nothing on the subject comes up.
   
   Any help or point towards an article on this will be much appreciated.
   
   Much Mahalos,
   Pamela

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      Sally's Troveposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Think about the Hubs you like to read. Do you enjoy reading through endless lines of text with no subtitles or graphics?
      
      Reading online is not like reading the pages of a novel, which can be a sensuous and engrossing affair. Reading online is more akin to a quick fix. People's attention spans are short online, and it's your job to cater to that by creating an online experience that encourages quick-fix readers into spending more than a minute--or a nanosecond--on your page.
      
      The most important thing to consider when writing online is how your online reader navigates text. Most readers scan, looking for visual cues to lead them through the page to either a quick conclusion or to an interest in reading in more depth.
      
      Breaking text up into segments that relate to your topic as a whole is very easy to do in HP, because of the creative capsules at your disposal. Use these HP capsule features to create blocks of information that relate to your Hub as a whole and to give the reader a complete picture of where the Hub is going.
      
      A Hub that has a good likelihood of being read by those who are not your faithful fans is in part an information map. It tells readers what they are going to read, via subheads and visuals, before they launch themselves into an in-depth reading.
      
      I wrote a Hub some time ago on how to improve the readabiity of your Hubs. It addresses how to use the HP capsules to achieve that goal and links to other Hubs on the same topic.

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      1. 87

         Pamela Kinnaird Wposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Thank you.  I'll look for your article on your profile page.

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2. 70

   Cagsilposted 14 years ago

   Hey Pamela,
   
   I'm not exactly sure what you mean or talking about. I have some long hubs myself and I don't use anything to break up the text.
   
   There isn't any reason for breaking up text, except into paragraphs.
   
   If you are having multiple topics, which each could go into one hub themselves, but are putting them into an article, then you can break them up by using more text capsules and putting titles on the capsules of each topic.
   
   Example: Human Characteristics or Traits..each would have a separate text capsule, one for integrity, one for morals and one for something else. Write in the text capsule, and put pictures along side of the text capsule.
   
   I put text capsules and every time I have a photo capsule next to it. I some times use Amazon, but I don't suggest doing that, because it would take away from the article also.
   
   Otherwise, I would suggest writing small paragraphs and lots of them, so your article will constantly flow and not lose the attention of your reader. It you try to stick pictures into the text capsule, then you take away from the article.IMHO.
   
   Here is a hub written by Marissa about helpful tips. I hope it helps you fix your problem.
   
   http://hubpages.com/hub/My-HubPages-Tips

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   1. 85

      Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks very much for the free plug, Cagsil, but I disagree with you on this one!
      
      You should always break your text up over several text capsules, even if it's all on the same topic.
      
      The first reason is Adsense ads:  if you have long text capsules, you severely limit HubPages' ability to optimize the positions of your ads, which will affect your income.
      
      I also recommend it to newbies because as they learn more about HubPages, they will want to go back and add more to them - things like video clips, photos, links capsules etc. If they've already got the text split into capsules, it's much easier to play with the layout and see what works best.
      
      Here's a Hub on how to use capsules:
      
      http://hubpages.com/_profiled/hub/capsules

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         Cagsilposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Hey Marissa, you're welcome, but please next time, don't just read part of what I said, read all of it.
         
         
         Edit: It was restricted to multiple topics, but long hubs. Multiple text capsules was my point.

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         1. 85

            Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            I did read all of it.  You said, don't split your text up unless you have multiple topics within a Hub. 
            
            I'm saying, I disagree.  Even if your Hub is all one long topic, you need to separate it into several text capsules so ads can appear between them, and so you can add other material later if you want.

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   2. 87

      Pamela Kinnaird Wposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you, Cagsil.

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3. 76

   mega1posted 14 years ago

   The main two things I do is to break up big chunks into reasonable paragraphs with a space in between.  Also I divide long articles into several sections which I place in separate text capsules.  Then do what Cagsil does - put a photo or several at 1/2 size next to each text capsule.  I also use videos the same way next to text or in between the text capsules.  This gives people a little bit of diversion.
   
   I also sometimes use bold face and italics at the very start of a paragraph that highlight something important.  Look at print magazines and how they are designed to keep your eye moving around on the page.  With sidebars and quoted text boxes and different style typefaces.  We can do much of that if we just take the time to design our hubs rather than just publish them.  Then always preview the hub first and see how it looks - if its too jumbled or has too much text you can break it up.  Sometimes make two hubs out of one really long one - part one, and part two.
   
   For some reason when you're reading on a screen its much harder to keep reading long texts - not at all like reading a page of a book without any photos or diversion.  I'm not sure why this is but I know I start scanning instead of reading when I see big text blocks and usually miss the real artistry of the piece when I do that.

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4. 67

   Flightkeeperposted 14 years ago

   Yes, using several text capsules instead of one long text capsule goes a long way towards the readability of a hub.  I also like to put text blocks to reiterate a point and give the page some variety.

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5. 82

   timorousposted 14 years ago

   Breaking your hub article into several 'capsules', gives you more flexibility on placing the various sections, and changing the order if necessary.
   
   While there are limitations on formatting your Hubpage article, in a way it's an advantage...it forces you to be more creative with photos and graphics, and layout.
   
   Once you've tried the various capsules...experiment, see what happens.  The cool things is, it's never written in stone..you can change your article 17 months later, or whatever.

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6. 69

   Kyrianaposted 14 years ago

   Pamela,
   
   Thanks for asking the question. I was wondering about that too. When I have several paragraphs in a row, sliding a picture, poll or something in about part way down without there really being a break in the text seems like it would be more appealing.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      That's why you use capsules.  Read the link I provided, it tells you how to use them.

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7. 85

   rebekahELLEposted 14 years ago

   are you talking about divider bars?
   
   greenlotus has a hub that is helpful by using graphics for divider bars.
   http://hubpages.com/hub/how_to_make_photo_divider_bars

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      timorousposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      You can see how I used a graphic divider bar in my colourful garden hub.

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         rebekahELLEposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         they look nice and that is a beautiful hub!
         
         I have the dividers on a few of my hubs. I'd like to add more as I have time to tweak them.
         
         we all know the average attention span of most people online in this social media age..

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            timorousposted 14 years agoin reply to this

            hey thanks rebekah.
            
            One thing I did with the little divider graphic is upload the first copy from my computer..then I [right-clicked] the graphic as displayed in my hub page, and selected 'Copy Image Location'.  This is the location of this file on Hubpages server.  I can then re-use this link for all the other photo capsules for this divider thing.
            
            This saves a lot of time uploading the same file many times, (and minimizes the server space Hubpages would require), and speeds up the page loading time as well.
            
            Another nice thing about the small divider graphic is, it's too small to show up on the slide show, so I didn't have to edit them out of the slide show.

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   Band2posted 14 years ago

   What you are referring to is what newspaper vets such as myself used to call "breaking up the grey".  As someone else has suggeested, use multiple capsules when you design your page layout.
   Insert pictures and videos.
   Insert polls and news.
   You can even put a comments capsule in there.
   Really LOOK at the options available as you go to first create your hub.

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   1. 87

      Pamela Kinnaird Wposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I'm going to re-do a hub and see if I can figure all this out.  No, wait, I'm going to read the two suggested hubs first -- by Sally's Trove and Marisa.   Thank you, all, who responded.  This is really great and I'm excited about it.  As for the divider bars mentioned, that's still Greek and can wait.

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   thisisoliposted 14 years ago

   I put two single product amazon capsules side by side. I also agree with using multiple text capsules!

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10. 85

    rebekahELLEposted 14 years ago

    yes, that is a good idea for the small dividers, you can also right-click on any image and click View Image Info and it gives the location, size, etc. it sure saves time if you want to use the same images.

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