#### 5.3.4 Changing the spacing

Now suppose you want more space above and below each Shortdesc paragraph. The master definition of the Shortdesc format includes a setting for margin bottom, but none for margin top. However, the master Shortdesc definition inherits properties from format Body, on which it is based:

    [Shortdesc]
    based = Body
    ...

So, to find out what else is influencing the appearance of Shortdesc, you need to look at the definition of the Body format, which is also in d2htm_formats.ini:

    [Body]
    based = Para
    margin top = 4pt
    margin bottom = 0pt
    margin left = 0pt
    font size = 10pt
    font family = Verdana, sans-serif

There you see that margin top is 4pt. So, to add 2pt to the space above and 2pt to the space below each Shortdesc paragraph, in dts_htm_formats.ini:

    [Shortdesc]
    margin top = 6pt
    margin bottom = 4pt
    margin left = 24pt
    color =

Next time you run the DITA Test Suite conversion to any HTML output, text rendered from the <shortdesc> element will be set off from preceding and following text by a little more space.

To see the rest of the settings that can affect the appearance of a Shortdesc paragraph, look at the definition of Body again. Body is based on Para, so check the definition of Para:

    [Para]
    display = block
    inline = Char
    line height = 12pt

Para is the end of the line for paragraph formats; but Para uses character formatting from inline format Char, so check the definition of Char:

    [Char]
    display = inline
    font name = Verdana,serif
    font size = 10pt

Since Char is not based on any other format, now you know all the properties that combine to determine the appearance of text rendered in HTML from the <shortdesc> element.

See §7.6 Configuring text output formats.

Previous Topic: 5.3.3 Changing the indentation

Next Topic: 5.4 Determining how an element is rendered

Parent Topic: 5.3 Changing how the output looks

Sibling Topics:

5.3.1 Producing HTML output from the DITA Test Suite

5.3.2 Getting rid of that awful green color

5.3.3 Changing the indentation