Formatting paragraphs — indent, align, bullets and numbering, borders and background

Hello students, welcome to Kwickprep. Two answer sheets have the same content, but one looks neat and one looks messy. Which one would you rather read? Today we will format paragraphs with indents, alignment, bullets and numbering, and borders and background.

First, what does the software call a paragraph? A paragraph is any text that ends where you press Enter, even a single line. Paragraph formats change the whole paragraph, not single letters. So you only need to click anywhere inside the paragraph. To format many paragraphs together, select them all first.

All paragraph settings live in one dialog box. In Writer, open Format, then Paragraph. In Word, click the small arrow at the corner of the Paragraph group on the Home tab. Writer's dialog has separate tabs for indents, alignment, borders and area. Its preview shows the change before you click OK.

An indent is the space between the page margin and the text. Before text indent, called left indent in Word, moves the whole left edge inwards. After text indent, called right indent in Word, moves the right edge inwards. A first line indent pushes only the first line, like in a story book. A hanging indent keeps the first line out and pushes the other lines in, as in a list of books.

There are quick ways to indent. The Increase Indent and Decrease Indent buttons on the toolbar move the paragraph in steps. You can drag the small markers on the ruler at the top of the page. For exact values, type the size in the Paragraph dialog box. Never push text with many spaces, because it goes out of line when the font changes.

Alignment decides how the lines line up between the left and right margins. These shortcuts are the same in Writer and in Word. Left alignment keeps lines straight on the left, and it is the usual choice. Centre alignment places text in the middle, which is good for titles. Right alignment keeps lines straight on the right, like the date in a formal letter. Justified alignment makes both edges straight, like a newspaper column.

A list is easier to read than a long paragraph. A bulleted list puts a dot or symbol before each item, when the order does not matter, like a stationery list. A numbered list puts numbers or letters before each item, when the order matters, like steps in a recipe. An outline list has levels, like one, then one point one, for sub points.

Here is how to make a list. In Writer, open Format, then Bullets and Numbering, to pick a style. Both Writer and Word also have toolbar buttons for bullets and for numbers. Type an item and press Enter, and the next bullet or number appears by itself. Press Tab at the start of an item to move it one level down, and Shift and Tab to move it back up. Press Enter twice to end the list.

A border is a line drawn around a paragraph, to make it stand out, like an important notice. In Writer, open Format, then Paragraph, then the Borders tab. In Word, use the Borders button in the Paragraph group. You can choose which sides get a line, such as all four sides or only the bottom. You can also choose the line style, the width and the colour.

Background colour fills the space behind the whole paragraph, from margin to margin. In Writer, open Format, then Paragraph, then the Area tab, and choose Color. In Word, this is called Shading, on the Home tab. Choose a light background with dark text, so it stays easy to read. Pause and predict: is paragraph background the same as highlighting? No, highlighting colours only behind the selected words.

Let us revise what we learned today. A paragraph is text that ends where you press Enter. Indents can be before text, after text, first line or hanging. Align with Ctrl and L, E, R or J, for left, centre, right and justified. Use bullets when order does not matter, and numbers for steps. Borders and background make an important paragraph stand out. Try formatting a school notice with all of these.