The Atahualpa default is to have posts in block paragraphs (not indented). I know how to use CSS to change the default so that all paragraphs are indented.

The problem is, when my students are writing practice essays I want most of their paragraphs to be indented, but not all of them. A block quotation, for example, should not be indented, nor should (usually) the first line following a block quotation, which is almost always a continuation of the same paragraph.

So: is there a user-friendly way for my students to indent their paragraphs manually? If they put spaces at the beginning of the first line of the paragraph, the spaces just disappear when the default is set to block paragraphs. Or, is there a user-friendly way for them to "un-indent" a paragraph when the default is set to indented paragraphs?

I am using 3.6.7.

Many thanks!

Eric

Use ' ' as the space character in the HTML editor NOT the visual editor.
Browsers compress multiple spaces into one but won't compress the  

Sorry, I should have been clearer: I knew there is an HTML solution, but for my students this is not what I would call "user-friendly". I mean something that is essentially the sort of thing one would do in a word-processing program; or alternatively, a one-or-two-keystroke way to toggle between indented and non-indented for individual paragraphs via Atahualpa theme options or CSS?

I have the sinking feeling that the answer to my question is, "No", which really frustrates me because the blog is such a good tool for practice writing, but in this case it is preventing me from teaching my students how to format their paragraphs and block quotations properly.

Just use the indent tool in the editor. Here is a screenshot. I'm not sure if it shows up in the default editor. You may have to click the "kitchen sink" button or add a plugin such as TinyMCE Advanced.

Thanks for this suggestion.

Unfortunately, the indent tool indents the entire paragraph, not just the first line. I need a way to indent just the first line of a paragraph.



Eric

There is no 'easy' way, you can use CSS (http://www.w3schools.com/cssref/pr_text_text-indent.asp) or the HTML " ' trick os something like this

If you want to indent the first sentence of all paragraphs you could use the following in CSS Inserts.

.post-bodycopy {
    text-indent: 14px;
}

If you want to indent "on the fly" there are plugins that provide an editor button to input the necessary code space code so all someone would need to do is hit the button.

Thanks, Larry. I took your hint, did a search on the Wordpress.org plugins page, and found "WP Quicktags, which as you say makes manual indenting of paragraphs . . . doable, at least, if not quite what I would call user friendly.

I have written a detailed set of instructions for my students, and now we'll see how it goes.

Thanks to everyone for your help!

Eric