nisus.com

I can’t see the drift of zeroing space before paragraph at page start or after a section break. Maybe there's a way to it, that I still haven't found. I guess it'd be just as well to set space before paragraph so as to leave an actual space before the paragraph after a section break/page start too, and not only after another paragraph, and let it up to the user to decide whether or not to alter it.
To insert an extra space I am forced to digit an empty paragraph after section break/page start. It works, but only as a clumsy makeshift, as if I were to drive a nail using a shoe. Not to say that the space itself gets altered (increased) by the previous paragraph's formatting. Now, for example, if I set space before to 30 pts, and the preceding empty paragraph has leading set to 12, space before paragraph will sum to 42 pts, that is 12 pts over the 30 I meant. As it is I insert an empty paragraph with leading set to 1 pt, which is but a shade – but I feel like I'm cheating myself.
I know it is much of a muchness with other programs, too, like AppleWorks and TextEdit. It's annoying consolation, though. Now Word (that I am going to permanently chuck as long as NWPro fulfills expectations) does always insert spacing, and Mellel gives one latitude whether or not to consider spacing after a section break. I don't know the cogwheels of programming, but I suppose it shouldn't be all that hard to implement a like behavior in NWE too.

Always me. Sometimes I assume people already know what I am writing about. It is my fault. Sorry.
I'll try to make myself clearer with a practical example.
Create a new document in NWE and write "Chapter One." Select it. Set "Size" to 10 points. Go to the Paragraph palette and set "Before" to 30 points and "After" to 6 points. Now I expect the text to shift downwards by 30 points but this does not happen, it sticks to the upper margin. This is because the "Before" setting inserts an additional space only between two contiguous paragraphs (inter-paragraph spacing). While I want it to insert an extra space at beginning of page, or right after a section break, too. To cause "Chapter One" to shift I hit "Return" twice. Put insertion point right before Chapter and hit "Return." An empty paragraph is created and the text "Chapter One" is shifted downwards by an amount of 30 points ("Before") plus Line Spacing (another 12 or 13 points) plus 6 points ("After").
This is the point. I would like the "Before" setting to add an extra space at beginning of page (or after a section break) without having to hit return and create an empty paragraph.
Maybe there's a way but I couldn't find it.
Let me know if I haven't been clear.
Thank you.

Actually I like the behavior as it is. For instance, I have 12 points before paragraphs in my basic Paragraph style, but I don't want 12 points of blank space at the top of a page. If I do want that spacing, I'll put it in manually.

--Craig

It would be great! But when I give the first paragraph in a page a "space before" (like your 12 points, for example) my NWE does "not" create an extra spacing between the paragraph and the upper margin. The text is like glued to the margin. Why?
I too would like NWE to behave the same as you say, but it doesn't.
Thanks

I think Craig means that he will manually adjust the top margin to add in the space he wants. But perhaps he has a different method.

I meant the very first paragraph right after a section break. That is usually a heading. I was thinking of a switch (in the prefs, for example) that allows you to apply or not an extra blank space in such case.
Thanks

Martin:

I applied your advice about using the section break for the page numbering, and everything worked out perfectly. Once again, thank you.

P.S. I've followed the ensuing comments about the point before/point after debate -- I didn't notice a problem, but (I must admit) my document is a speech, so the formatting is basic compared to a text or manual.