Soft return ?

Thank you for asking about soft returns!!!!! There is nothing like getting a document from someone and needing to create a new package and instead of using soft returns (shift/return) or just letting the text wrap, the person has used all hard returns or used spaces instead of tabs to align things or used a whole bunch of spaces to move text to the next line. Or getting text that is not linked where every column or every page is it's own text block instead of one continuous text block for the document. Or using extra paragraph returns instead of using space before or space after to allow for extra room in between paragraphs.

Please do use them.... it makes life a lot easier for others if they have to work off your document. Thank you.

Oh my, where to start ;-)

Mal, I don't think typography applies to what you do, so what should govern your work is what makes it most functionally legible. Just as an example, double carriage returns to add paragraph spacing is (to be mild) frowned upon in typesetting. Which does not mean it is wrong for you to do it, as you are not typesetting. Just keep doing what you are doing and be happy.

If you want to jump into the fine art of typography, however, you can't go wrong by finding yourself a copy of Bringhurst's "The Elements of Typographic Style" and giving it a read. There are plenty of other tomes as well, but that one in particular is considered authoritative.

Yours
Vern

Actually, I've misused the term soft return. I'd better explain. :)

I'm a software developer, not a technical writer or anything like that. The passages of text I write are plain-text prompts, with no inherent concept of paragraphs. Instead, I talk about single carriage returns as soft returns and double carriage returns as paragraph breaks. Hope that's a bit clearer.

What riles me is when I see colleagues writing such messages with some sentences separated by single returns and others separated by double returns. The former just looks a mess to my eye, as the semantics of the single return are unclear in the presence of a more recognisable, double-return paragraph break. Plus, the lack of soothing whitespace in single-returned paragraphs is detrimental to readability, IMHO.

This is now becoming a long shot, but can anyone point me to guidelines that would cover this kind of... well, abomination? :)

I'm a bit of a soft line-break phobic myself. I've never understood what they're actually *meant* for; surely if you're changing topic, you start a new paragraph? Otherwise, just carry on with the current one, without need for a line break of any kind... right? It's one of those things that really bugs me when I see my colleagues doing it.

Can anyone point me in the direction of some guidelines regarding the use of soft line breaks? I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks,

Mal.

Like when some people enter endless tabs to produce a line break. Reckon it must be a hangover from typewriter days. I don´t know how often I have reprimanded my wife for doing it :-) But soft returns shouldn't be a problem with professionals who know what they're doing. basically it's a question of keeping your typography squeaky clean.

And by the way, long live Gilbert and Sullivan - totally brilliant! I thought they were thoroughly "out" and am very surprised that anyone still remembers them :-)

Soft returns have their place.

It's when people overuse them and use them for things like creating extra space between paragraphs when you run into trouble.

I always appreciate an obscure reference. Here is a
little background if anyone is interested.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.M.S._Pinafore

:-D

I was just waiting for an opportunity to insert that snippet.

<G><br /><br />Thanks Dave. Good to have a context for that.<br /><br />Al

Gilbert & Sullivan: HMS Pinafore

Dave