Spacing Within Posts

Blogger, how do I love thee? You give me a blogging home in a user-friendly environment...most of the time.

One thing that really bothered me as a beginning blogger was how I would write a post, hitting enter to put lovely spaces in between all of my paragraphs, only to hit publish and see half of them all scrunched up together.


Not cool.

I would spend the next half hour, trying to figure it all out. I would have limited success, but never knew what I had done to make the spacing look the way I wanted it to. I tried clicking on dashboard-->settings-->formatting and changing to yes or no in the 'convert line breaks' box. I just couldn't get it.

It drove me batty!

I finally figured out a solution to my problem. I started writing my posts in the Microsoft Works word processor program on my computer and pasting them into a new post. Here's how:

1. Write your post in Microsoft Works (or Word), making sure to include the spaces in between paragraphs exactly where you would like them.
   
2. Highlight and copy it (ctrl + c).
   
3. Open a new post.
   
   
4. Click on the Edit HTML tab and paste the post into it (ctrl + v).
   
5. Click on 'Compose'.
   
6. Add your links, color changes, and photos if desired. Click here for info on how to move photos from the top of the post.
   
7. Preview. If you like what you see, click save.
   
8. Voila! Spaces where they should be!

Now, I would be outright lying if I said I still wrote all of my posts this way. Since my HTML skills have improved, I can recognize a lot of the characters and what they do. By clicking on the 'edit html' tab, I can look through my post and easily identify when there is a hidden space. Then I can delete it and move along my merry way.

When I was a beginner, I did it the word processor way in order to make sure I didn't delete anything within my posts that I didn't want to. I would suggest that anyone who is intimidated by HTML to simply follow the numbered directions above for stress-free, perfectly spaced posts. :)