# Initial spaces? Indent feature?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/initial-spaces-indent-feature/529649>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [February 19, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/initial-spaces-indent-feature/529649 "2010-02-19T17:32:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 10\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/initial-spaces-indent-feature/529649/1 "2010-02-19T17:32:40Z")

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Are these disabled, and if so, why?

\*Examples: \*

**Red**  
\*\<space\>\<space\>\<space\>\ ***Blue**  
\*\<space\>\<space\>\<space\>\<space\>\<space\>\<space\>\ ***Green**

or, using the indent feature (_note_: square brackets replaced with angle brackets in the following example):

**Red**  
\<INDENT\>\</INDENT\> **Blue**  
\<INDENT\>\</INDENT\>\<INDENT\>\</INDENT\> **Green**  
both result in:

**Red  
Blue  
Green**

What gives?

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**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/initial-spaces-indent-feature/529649/2 "2010-02-19T18:02:17Z")

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Put [indent] before and [/ indent] **after** the text you want to indent.

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**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/initial-spaces-indent-feature/529649/3 "2010-02-19T18:09:05Z")

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[ _ed - someone already done it, I think. I was going to suggest 8198_]

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**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/initial-spaces-indent-feature/529649/4 "2010-02-19T18:14:55Z")

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Oh yeah?

Indent.

[indent]Indent.[/indent]

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**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/initial-spaces-indent-feature/529649/5 "2010-02-19T18:31:35Z")

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I see your question on the [indent] tag has been answered.

As for the leading spaces, your Web browser eats them. The HTML specifications say that any block of spaces gets turned into a single space. Spaces at the beginning of a line are removed completely.

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**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/initial-spaces-indent-feature/529649/6 "2010-02-19T19:06:12Z")

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> [@Canadjun](#):
>
> Put [indent] before and [/ indent] **after** the text you want to indent.

- 

D’oh!\*

Thanks. I was stupidly clicking the indent button like it was a tab key.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Algorithm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/algorithm/32/12204_2.png) [@Algorithm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algorithm)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/initial-spaces-indent-feature/529649/7 "2010-02-19T22:04:31Z")

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**[noparse][noparse][/noparse][noparse]example[/noparse][noparse][/noparse][/noparse]**

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**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/initial-spaces-indent-feature/529649/8 "2010-02-19T22:40:03Z")

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As for inserting extra spaces: There are two ways to go about that: If it’s a separate part of something, you’re best bet is to wrap that separate part in

```auto

 tags, which will preserve all spaces (although you'll lose wordwrap). However, if it's an intrinsic part of your post, your only recourse is to use junk text, and use the [color] tag to make it invisible. 

Examples:

```

1 50.00% 50.00% 25.00%  
2 25.00% 75.00% 37.50%  
3 12.50% 87.50% 43.75%  
4 6.25% 93.75% 46.88%

```auto

Apple ...........................Pear
Red .............................Green

Note that I used [color=#f8f8f8] not [color=white]. On some monitors you can tell the difference.
```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/initial-spaces-indent-feature/529649/9 "2010-02-20T01:51:42Z")

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I prefer using the code section as above.

But you could also use the non-breaking space, HTML code &\*\*#160;.

5 non-breaking spaces --\>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\<-- 5 non-breaking spaces

The only problem with that is, as vBulletin handles it, the input area now contains regular spaces, not the HTML coding. If you want to make changes and retain the coding, you can navigate to the previous page. However, if you used the quick reply box, the text you entered there is not restored (at least that’s what happened when I tried it just now).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/initial-spaces-indent-feature/529649/10 "2010-02-20T02:33:41Z")

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Huh. That’s probably why I assumed it didn’t work, as I always preview coding before I send it.

Apple &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Pear  
Red &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Green

Also, this means that nobody will be able to figure out how you did it, since the quote box will just contain normal spaces.