Page:The practice of typography; correct composition; a treatise on spelling, abbreviations, the compounding and division of words, the proper use of figures and nummerals by De Vinne, Theodore Low, 1828-1914.djvu/207



A new school of typography disapproves of the old-fashioned method of indenting paragraphs, and advises that the first letter in the first line of a paragraph be set flush with the measure, without the preliminary em quadrat. No objection can be made to this method when this first line has a full white line over it, as is usual at the beginning of a chapter, for the white line is an indication of a new subject as well as of the new paragraph. When matter is set solid, without any white line between paragraphs, the no-indention method is not to be commended. It does not help the reader, and it may confuse him. If the last line of a preceding paragraph fills the measure, as sometimes happens, distinction between that paragraph and the one following is destroyed. Without the needed break of white between, the two paragraphs are made one.

This name is given to the squared and centred composition of short indented lines (often of capitals only) now in favor for undisplayed parts of a titlepage. Every line is set with a wide indention on each side, and with first and last lines always of the full width of the narrowed measure, so that they will take the form of a symmetrical square. This method is one form of rebellion against the old displayed