The Gang of Five
Beyond the Mysterious Beyond => The Fridge => Topic started by: DarkHououmon on August 26, 2011, 09:58:01 AM
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Which style of paragraphing, well online paragraphing that is; not in books, do you think is easier to read?
There's two different styles I've seen online. One is much more prominent, while the other one I've seen used only by one person, but I'm not going to say whether or not it's truly rare; perhaps there are other people elsewhere on the web who also use this style that I'm not aware of.
Here are the two styles (I'm using a scene from Ken'ichi's A Sharptooth's Heart II as an example)-
Style A:
With a nod the two of them went off. They met up with Yu and soon went off back into the caverns after letting Yu's father, Judah, know about them returning to the Alimons. Inside the caves it was as dark and cool as they remembered, and though they had a hard time adjusting to the caves' darkness and routes at first they managed to get used to things inside of them and learn a bit of the routes while on their way back outside after Rex confronted Stone. As they learned before these caverns the Rock Rangers live in are quite spacious and long, tunnels stretching for what seems like forever for first timers, impressive for creatures to live in them and know where every entrance and exit leads.
It was still a mystery for the trio on how these tunnels came to be, but convenient. It holds quite good protection from predators and weather conditions. And located near the Great Valley as well, it's like a utopia in a utopia. But even a utopia has its dark secrets. The Darkarians, rebellions, and even keeping everything Rex wants to know about his species in top secret.
It took a while to find it but the gang found and makes their way down the tunnel that leads to the meeting chamber, where Stone told them to return to as the Bright Circle started to descend. "We're almost there." Chomper announces enthusiastically before turning into a run down the tunnel. "C'mon!"
Style B:
With a nod the two of them went off. They met up with Yu and soon went off back into the caverns after letting Yu's father, Judah, know about them returning to the Alimons. Inside the caves it was as dark and cool as they remembered, and though they had a hard time adjusting to the caves' darkness and routes at first they managed to get used to things inside of them and learn a bit of the routes while on their way back outside after Rex confronted Stone.
As they learned before these caverns the Rock Rangers live in are quite spacious and long, tunnels stretching for what seems like forever for first timers, impressive for creatures to live in them and know where every entrance and exit leads. It was still a mystery for the trio on how these tunnels came to be, but convenient. It holds quite good protection from predators and weather conditions. And located near the Great Valley as well, it's like a utopia in a utopia.
But even a utopia has its dark secrets. The Darkarians, rebellions, and even keeping everything Rex wants to know about his species a secret. It took a while to find it but the gang found and makes their way down the tunnel that leads to the meeting chamber, where Stone told them to return to as the Bright Circle started to descend. "We're almost there." Chomper announces enthusiastically before turning into a run down the tunnel. "C'mon!"
Which style do you think is easier to read?
Personally, the first style is what I find easier. It's the most commonly used one, and for good reason. The space allows time for the eye to relax and to tell when a new paragraph is beginning. The second one, however, becomes just a wall of text to my eyes (more noticeable when there's more text involved) and it's much harder to discern where a paragraph starts and begins, not to mention often harder to read properly. I've often read sentences wrong when they're done in Style B, more so than Style A. This style may work if one were reading from the right to the left, but reading left to the right, it becomes a problem.
I've only ever seen Style B used once and that's here. I'm unfamiliar with any other usage of it, personally. I'm not trying to bash anyone that uses Style B or point any fingers. This was done simply out of curiosity.
So how about you guys?
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I found them the same actually but I do say Style B is more easier to read and understand. It makes the story a lot easier to make.
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I found them the same actually but I do say Style B is more easier to read and understand. It makes the story a lot easier to make.
I am similar and different in this. I personally (as I can speak for no one else) find it harder to read style B. I read both and recorded the difference. I did not do these on purpose, but instinctively. With style A, I read it with comfort sitting back in my chair. When I got to style B, I had to lean forward a bit and squint to follow it correctly.
However, I do agree that technically it is easier to make stories that way, as bunching things together means less pressing of the enter button. Yet I feel that readability is more important than ease of creation, though that’s just my opinion. I see style B sometimes on fanfiction.net, and honestly, it causes me to take longer to read the stories there and wears out my eyes more quickly. Be that as it may, I am not disagreeing with any who feel contrary to this, as, being already proven, it is a matter of preference, and preferences have no right or wrong.
Edit:
Oops. In spite of everything I said, I didn't actually answer the question itself. :bang I voted for style A.
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Style A is far easier to read
A block of text makes it very easy for me to lose my position.
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I agree with TFS and Serris, I find Style A, much easier to read than for B. As the latter makes me confused and irritated whenever I miss a sentence or two. Which is common for me when reading stories written in that sort of fashion, as I cannot follow each line easily without losing interest later on. Although, not to offend anybody that uses that type of writing. I'm merely stating my opinion on the writing itself, not the person who writes it.
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I prefer style A. It's what I"ve been reading online the most and it does seem, to me, far easier to read and keep straight what I"m reading then style B which seems like a wall of text or one run on paragraph.
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I still like both but A to me is kinda hard to read.
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It might come down to where you read it. Style B isn't too bad if it were on paper. But on the monitor, it can be painful to read. Well for me at least.
Whenever I look at paragraphs in Style B, it hurts my eyes almost right away and it's hard for me to read it. Style A, on the other hand, is more relaxing to my eyes. This is because Style B is pretty much a big wall of text, where as A provides breaks and is much easier to discern one paragraph from another. I admit I find it hard to believe that Style B is easier to read than Style A when it comes to online.
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Not only do I use the Type A paragraph format in my writing, but I also find it easier to read. Therefore, my vote is for Type A :yes.