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  EDline Vol. 8, no. 73   (31 August 2003)

  Editorial mailing list (digest version)
  Published by the Electric Editors
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  Contents:

         Q & A
  [2yi]  Conventions of paragraphing

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---[2]-- Q & A --------------------------------------------------

         Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003
         From: Anna McCormack, mccormack@goulburn.net.au

Joy Burrough wrote:

> In a text explaining conventions of paragraphing in English,
> how should I refer to lines that begin hard up against the
> left-hand margin?

Naomi Laredo wrote:

> "align" properly refers to vertical layout, i.e. the position
> of the *lines* of text, whereas "range" refers to horizontal
> layout, i.e. the position of the text relative to the left /
> right margins. Unfortunately, though, the distinction between
> these terms is also getting lost.

I've always used those words the other way round: 'align' meaning
put whatever on the same horizontal line, and 'range' meaning put
whatever under each other vertically.

For starting on the left margin (i.e. not indenting), the term
'full out' (f.o.) is often used, in addition to the various terms
other people have mentioned. Isn't f.o. a standard proofing
phrase?

Alison Black wrote:

> ... But I wonder how many other editors apply the "full-out"
> policy inflexibly to the first line after displayed text,
> regardless of the reason for display? ...

I agree with Alison. After a quote, display, table, figure,
equation, etc., the text should start full out (or not) depending
on the sense of the material---not just automatically full out
(or not) to follow some stylistic rule.


         ----------------------
         Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003
         From: Naomi Laredo, naomi@smallprt.demon.co.uk

I wrote:

> "align" properly refers to vertical layout, i.e. the position
> of the *lines* of text, whereas "range" refers to horizontal
> layout, i.e. the position of the text relative to the left /
> right margins.

and Anna McCormack responded:

> I've always used those words the other way round: 'align'
> meaning put whatever on the same horizontal line, and 'range'
> meaning put whatever under each other vertically.

No, we don't disagree: we're expressing the same thing in
different ways. When you "align" two items, i.e. put them on the
same line, it's actually their vertical position that you're
adjusting. When you "range" two things, i.e. put them in the same
column, it's their horizontal position that is critical. Strange
but true!


         ----------------------
         Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003
         From: Robert Ritter, robert.ritter@oxcis.ac.uk

It gets stranger still, as the two terms are interchangeable:
according to ODWE, to 'range' means to 'align vertically and/or
horizontally'. Some typefaces have 'ranging' or 'lining' numbers
that align at the top and bottom (as in 1234567890) with uniform
ascenders and no descenders; other typefaces have 'non-ranging'
or 'non-lining' numbers where only some figures have ascenders
above x-height (typically 6, 8), some descenders (typically 3, 4,
5, 7, 9), and some neither (typically 1, 2, 0).

As others have said, the main thing is to ensure that the
typesetter/designer knows what you're talking about, and in this
regard either term does the job, providing it's imposed
consistently in similar contexts. However, directions for the
presence or absence of paragraph indentation shouldn't be
confused directions for alignment of the paragraph as a whole.
It's best to have two directions, one for the style of the
paragraph and one for the style of the indentation, as you can
have e.g. a full-out first line with a non-aligned (or ragged)
margin, or an indented first line with a full (or flush) margin.

I agree that indentation after e.g. tables, figures, and
displayed material should follow sense, but standardly no
paragraph indentation follows chapter or section headings. 


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