Josh Evnin

Hanging Blockquotes: Implemented

If you’re not looking at this entry on my site, it’s not gonna look quite right. For the best view, look here.
Just wanted to let y’all know that I’ve fixed my blockquotes so that they’re hanging. You’ll notice that I not only hang my blockquotes, but list items as well. Check it out:

This is what it looks like when I have a blockquote. Notice how the quote mark does not get in the way, and there this block of text has perfect left-alignment with the rest of the text on the page.

And what about lists?

  1. Here
  2. is
  3. an
  4. ordered
  5. list

and

  • Here
  • is
  • an
  • unordered
  • list

Why do I do this hanging business?

Notice how all the text on the page aligns perfectly on the left? That makes it easier for you to read the text on this page, and after all, this blog isn’t just about me…it’s about you too! Typography is fun!

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5 responses

  1. Josh Graham Avatar
    Josh Graham

    Nice technique but I prefer the quote or bullet to be left justified to paragraph text (rather than outset in the left margin).

    It still makes it easy to find interesting stuff like lists but doesn’t break the eye line as it scans down the page.

    Perhaps give it a try with fully-justified paragraph text and less leading (line spacing) your paragraph text.

    The page as you have it reminds me of a COBOL program where most text is in column 8 but yucky things get put in the gutter(/margin).

  2. Sudhindra Avatar
    Sudhindra

    I fail to see why you need to do this.. even though it is nice. As always one should not use html markup for formatting. with css you will have better control and guarantee of content showing up correctly – aligned, pretty, formatted etc. One of the reasons why tag is not so popular is that it does exactly what you are trying here- include formatting in your markup.

  3. Sudhindra Avatar
    Sudhindra

    Correction :
    ‘One of the reasons why tag’ should read
    ‘One of the reasons why “pre” tag’

  4. jevnin Avatar
    jevnin

    Sudhindra: I’m confused…all the formatting is happening in CSS…is your problem with the blockquote tag?

  5. Jay Crazzay-Tavee Avatar
    Jay Crazzay-Tavee

    Dude, gotta say that I think that the lists look sucky like that.
    Even if that is be a more logical way to do it, remember that people are not logical and if you’ve spent a lifetime with the list numbers lined up with the paragraph edge then you are gonna find it distracting to see them shifted out now.

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