Indentation and Paragraphing in LaTeX

[zachary Kline]

Hi All,
In relation to a previous question I had about defining a simple memo
class in LaTeX, I was wondering what the normal rules for paragraphing
do as far as indentation is concerned.
(I wouldn't have to ask if I were able to see the output of documents
myself, but being visually impaired I'm unable to.)
The format I need is pretty simple: date, to, from, and subject lines
all aligned left, and then block-structured paragraphs without any
indentation, ocasionally broken by centered headings.
I'm pretty sure there's a simple way in LaTEx to accomplish all this,
possibly without use of a class.
Would \\ work to ensure the lines are broken where I want them?
Thanks in advance for any help with this.
Best,
Zack.

[Peter Flynn]

The LaTeX default is for all paragraphs to have the first line indented
EXCEPT for the first paragraph following a section or subsection
heading, etc.

The best way to turn off indentation is to use the parskip package. This
also adds one blank line between paragraphs (sighted people need the
blank line when there is no indentation to indicate the new paragraph).

\\ breaks lines but does not start a new paragraph. I don't normally
recommend it unless you want to terminate a line prematurely, but you
could use it in all but the last of the date, to, from, and subject
lines, and in the closing signature, to prevent the blank line that the
parskip package adds.

I suggest something like:

--- begin test.tex
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{parskip,url}
\begin{document}
From: zachary Kline \url{<kli...@onid.orst.edu>}\\
To: comp.text.tex\\
Subject: Indentation and Paragraphing in \LaTeX\\
Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:21:06 -0700

Hi All,

In relation to a previous question I had about defining a simple memo
class in LaTeX, I was wondering what the normal rules for paragraphing
do as far as indentation is concerned.

(I wouldn't have to ask if I were able to see the output of documents
myself, but being visually impaired I'm unable to.)

The format I need is pretty simple: date, to, from, and subject lines
all aligned left, and then block-structured paragraphs without any

indentation, occasionally broken by centered headings.

I'm pretty sure there's a simple way in \LaTeX\ to accomplish all this,

possibly without use of a class.

Would \verb+\\+ work to ensure the lines are broken where I want them?

Thanks in advance for any help with this.

Best,\\
Zack.
\end{document}
--- end test.tex

///Peter

[zachary Kline]

Hi Peter,
Thanks for the information on parskip. That's not a package I'd heard
of before.
I'm pretty sure this'll be all I need, considering how generally simple
the format is.
All the best,
Zack.