What are alignment and indentation?

Answer 1

Alignment means "along a straight edge line". In computing, you can have "left alignment" or "right alignment" (you can also have "center alignment").

As an example, the edges of this box (made with a table) would be a straight line in text editing on a computer. The buttons above can make it be:

Left align

(This website does not have a function to show right alignment.)

OR

Center Alignment, like this

In "left" or "right" alignment, computers use the straight line along the side as the margin, as defined by the web creator or program user. For example, in MS Word, you can set your right and left margins so wide that your text *could* only look like it is in the center, but not center aligned; it would still be left aligned.

Indentation

Indentation has been used in books for centuries. The first word of a new paragraph is "indented", or "moved over" so many spaces to indicate 'begin new paragraph'. In book typesetting, the standard indent has typically been five (5) spaces.

In computing, the standard five (5) spaces is still typically the rule. For example, term papers, book reports, essays, and other homework would use the 5-space indent on each new paragraph.

Personal writing always uses indentation, though instead of counting "spaces", a writer should learn to judge the appropriate spaces. Many grammar age school students are taught to "count letters" in the line above to judge how far to indent when writing long-hand.

Business and personal letters have traditionally relied on the 5-space indent rule. However, in the last 15 years some businesses have used just the "left align" on all new paragraphs. HOWEVER, many people complain and think it is much easier to read a letter that uses the 5-space indentation rule.

Websites

The internet gave webmakers the ability to use artistic and interpretive presentation. Different webmasters can make their pages without attention to any grammar rules. So, web users may see pages that:

• do not use paragraphs at all
• do not use the 5-space indentation standard (in part because the code for "make 1 space here" is longer than "a" space "_" ).
• use a mixture of no indentation and standard indentation
• use a solid mass of typing without paragraph indentation OR line breaks (which makes it hard to read)
• use a larger capital letter on the first letter of the first word of a paragraph -- with or without indentation of the paragraph

To learn more about alignment, open MS Word and experiment with the left, right, and center alignment.

Notice how the alignment works when you change the margin settings.

Notice that in MS Word, a "tab" is set to a inch-width that equals "5 spaces".

In all cases, left align is preferred for most uses. Center align is typically reserved to set off something, such as a Title or Sub-Title. And, right-align is rarely used, unless a project includes (for example) a photo/picture/graphic on the left side with typing on the right.