Indent first line of most paragraphs, not all

  • ericmacknight

    (@ericmacknight)


    2 years, 4 months ago

    I have used WordPress for years to create class blogs where my students publish essays, poems, and stories. It is great, in so many ways.

    However, it sucks when it comes to teaching students what a paragraph is.

    I have been waiting for years for WP to include a way to indent the first line of a paragraph, or not, that is a simple as a word processor. Alternatively, a plug-in. It’s 2022, and still no joy.

    First-line indents are crucial when including a block quotation in a paragraph: the lack of an indent when the paragraph resumes after the block quotation shows that the reader is still in the same paragraph. With block paragraphs (the default in WP) it is impossible to tell the difference between a new paragraph and a continuation of a paragraph after a block quotation.

    First-line indents are crucial, too, when writing dialogue.

    I have seen two solutions proposed: 1. CSS code that indents *all* paragraphs. This is useless for those who want to indent the first line of some paragraphs, but not all. 2. Hit the space bar five times. Sometimes this works; other times it does not. So, for students trying to learn what a paragraph is, this is just confusing.

    Question 1: Why is this capability not built in to WordPress, after all these years?

    Question 2: Has anyone found a plug-in that will provide the ability to indent some paragraphs, but not all? (I have looked, in vain!)

    Sorry this is so long, and thanks for your help!

    • This topic was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by Jan Dembowski. Reason: Moved to Fixing WordPress, this is not a Requests and Feedback topic
Viewing 7 replies - 16 through 22 (of 22 total)
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  • Thread Starter ericmacknight

    (@ericmacknight)

    1 year, 6 months ago

    @threadi Do you know if this change is included in the new Block Editor for WP 6.2?

    I tried to check, but I couldn’t tell.

    threadi

    (@threadi)

    1 year, 6 months ago

    I would say no. Because both tickets mentioned in your ticket are still in the “Open” status, i.e. they have not been processed yet.

    Thread Starter ericmacknight

    (@ericmacknight)

    1 year, 6 months ago

    Thanks!

    leo1976

    (@leo1976)

    1 year, 6 months ago

    How many people will I have to fire before this gets done?

    numewplucian

    (@numewplucian)

    1 year, 5 months ago

    Also default block editor has such an unfriendly interface. And it has some bugs when you start to bullet/unbullet.
    Then you look for plugins, and you look and you see that all of them (elementor, classic editor, advanced tools editor), have the same problem, lack of a tab key or shift tab key, to create a indent, and lack of an automatic paragraph indent at the beginning of a paragraph.
    Incredibly unprofessional.
    The “we don’t know the right spacing” excuse doesn’t hold water.
    Make the spacing as in m.s. word, and if someone wants to change it, let them try their hand at it with CSS or Java.
    Doesn’t that make sense?

    Thread Starter ericmacknight

    (@ericmacknight)

    1 year, 5 months ago

    @numewplucian, I suspect that the vast majority of people who have the coding skills to work on the block editor, etc., are not “literary” types who pay attention to things like indented paragraphs; and that the vast majority of “literary” types are people like me, who have zero coding skills. Hopefully these requests will make their way to the top of the “to do” list, eventually.

    numewplucian

    (@numewplucian)

    1 year, 5 months ago

    @threadi I added this p { text-indent: 40px; }in appearance , theme file editor, but no success.
    I’m a beginner and I don’t know where this command should be entered.
    Does it really have the power to stop putting the cursor at the beginning of the line WITHOUT indentation when you press Enter?
    I use advanced editor tools.
    What exactly do I need to do to make the cursor automatically go further in when I press Enter?


Viewing 7 replies - 16 through 22 (of 22 total)
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