To indent or not to indent within a page?

Questions & Help
1

Other than not being able to collapse blocks, are there any technical reasons for using indentation? In other words, will I be penalized if I decide not to use indentation within the context of a page?

2

Penalized? I don’t think so. Indentation is useful for structuring your thoughts as you write them. It all depends on how structured you want it, and how useful it will be later on.
Often times, people use indentation for outlining, so as to look like
Subject
[tab] Thought 1
[tab]]tab] Thought A
[tab][tab] Thought B
[tab] Though 2
Subject 2

The idea is to create a hierarchy in your notes, to make it make sense without a lot of actual folder structure and losing things around.

3

Thanks for responding. I used workflowy for years, and while at times I found indentation helpful, I also discovered that at the page level I did not need it, as it just added another level of complexity and unwanted maintenance. So, if I don’t have to indent at the page level, I would prefer not to. However, if there is some technical reason that should be considered before embracing in such a practice, it would be helpful to know about it.

4

To my knowledge, there is no technical reason to!

5

Thanks for helping me.

6

I don’t understand what you mean by this. Indentation applies to blocks within pages.

  • The purpose of indentation:
    • is not for:
      • collapsing
        • Most indentations always remain expanded.
        • There are other ways to hide parts of a page.
      • or any other technical reason
        • There is no technical penalty for not using it.
    • is for outlining deeper (i.e. in more detail) the current page’s concept
      • Indentation provides a simple but effective structure for details.
  • Don’t use indentation if:
    • free-form text happens to be a requirement
    • you have no details to provide
      • That means that the current page is superficial.
        • That includes every page in its early stages.
    • you don’t see the benefits of structure
      • The benefits are real, but not enforced.
    • you hate how this post looks
      • Actual content remains more important than any look.
5 Likes
7

Thanks for clarifying and outlining the various usage scenarios for both cases. Especially the clarification listing the reasons for not indenting. All of this is helpful information as I move forward.

8

This was a great explanation. Thank you!