How to Break up the Text with stuff between paragraphs

Jump to Last Post 1-10 of 10 discussions (21 posts)
  1. Pamela Kinnaird W profile image86
    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

    1. Sally's Trove profile image79
      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.

      1. Pamela Kinnaird W profile image86
        Pamela Kinnaird Wposted 14 years agoin reply to this

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

  2. Cagsil profile image68
    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

    1. Marisa Wright profile image85
      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

      1. Cagsil profile image68
        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. wink


        Edit: It was restricted to multiple topics, but long hubs. Multiple text capsules was my point.

        1. Marisa Wright profile image85
          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.

    2. Pamela Kinnaird W profile image86
      Pamela Kinnaird Wposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Thank you, Cagsil.

  3. mega1 profile image78
    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.

  4. Flightkeeper profile image66
    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.

  5. timorous profile image82
    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.

  6. Kyriana profile image68
    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.

    1. Marisa Wright profile image85
      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.

  7. rebekahELLE profile image84
    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

    1. timorous profile image82
      timorousposted 14 years agoin reply to this

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

      1. rebekahELLE profile image84
        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..

        1. timorous profile image82
          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.

  8. Band2 profile image58
    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.

    1. Pamela Kinnaird W profile image86
      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.

  9. thisisoli profile image79
    thisisoliposted 14 years ago

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

  10. rebekahELLE profile image84
    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.

 
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)