Page Text Content
Writing for web has subtle differences from writing for other media types.This is due to the way we interact with screens as opposed to printed media.
Paragraphs
The most basic that difference between writing for web and for print is the length of paragraphs, for web they tend to be shorter. Of course long articles may still have long paragraphs but the use of headings can help a great deal with readability.
How to create paragraphs
On the keyborad we simply hit "Enter" at the end of a line of text and a paragraph will automaically be created by most text editing software. For the intermediate user you can create paragraphs usng the tags directly within HTML.
Example paragraphs
To help us look at how paragraphs work in web pages we are going to us some dummy text known as "Lorem ipsum". This is often used for testing text layouts by designers so that focus is on the typography and not the content.
Example 1 - a block of text as a single paragraph consisting of ten sentences:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam et dolor auctor, consectetur diam vel, congue nisi. Praesent ornare massa sagittis euismod mollis. Sed a interdum felis. Maecenas in imperdiet nulla. Etiam fermentum mi erat, a scelerisque nulla placerat at. Quisque eget faucibus elit, vel porttitor felis. Nulla facilisi. Donec eu rhoncus tellus. Nunc tristique libero fermentum, facilisis sapien vitae, congue nunc. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Mauris eu iaculis magna. Nulla tempor facilisis purus, ac posuere leo egestas at. Aliquam consequat odio posuere leo imperdiet suscipit.
Example 2 - the same block of text as three paragraphs:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam et dolor auctor, consectetur diam vel, congue nisi. Praesent ornare massa sagittis euismod mollis. Sed a interdum felis. Maecenas in imperdiet nulla. Etiam fermentum mi erat, a scelerisque nulla placerat at.
Quisque eget faucibus elit, vel porttitor felis. Nulla facilisi. Donec eu rhoncus tellus. Nunc tristique libero fermentum, facilisis sapien vitae, congue nunc. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.
Mauris eu iaculis magna. Nulla tempor facilisis purus, ac posuere leo egestas at. Aliquam consequat odio posuere leo imperdiet suscipit.
The benefits
As we can clearly see, breaking the block of text into smaller paragraphs makes it much easier to read. This applies not only to the user but also the content writers and editors, the text is now easier to work with.
Line breaks
When we use paragraphs the line spacing between them is determined by the web sites "Style Sheets". Sometimes we would like text to go to the next line but without this spacing. On those occasions it is necessary to force a "line break".
How to create Line breaks
On the keyborad we simply hit "Shift + Enter" at the end of a line of text and a LIne breakwill automaically be created by most text editing software. For the intermediate user you can create paragraphs usng the tags directly within HTML.
Example Line breaks
A classic example for using Line breaks would be an address:
Hedgehog House,
21 Garden Road,
Pricklebottom,
Herts.