Eliminate first paragraph tab after blank space?

[nws]

Dear all, my name is Nico. I'm new to this forum and hope I'm posting to the right section.

I've converted a few RTF files to epubs for a Kobo reader with Calibre, and noticed that I can't suppress the indent of the first paragraph after a blank line (or a page break). I do want indents to show at the beginning of the second and all subsequent paragraphs though.

So my question is: how can I eliminate this first indent? And how can I force Calibre to insert a page break? This is how I want it to look:

<blank line / forced page break>
Text of the first paragraph. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed lectus lorem, pulvinar malesuada fermentum sit amet, tempus a ante. Aliquam tincidunt neque eu risus luctus, id tempus velit facilisis. Etiam ullamcorper convallis lectus, non pulvinar felis ullamcorper nec. Ut nulla erat, condimentum ac molestie id, rhoncus at nisi.
<indent>Second paragraph. Nulla faucibus diam et condimentum porttitor. Donec pretium arcu eu sem posuere, quis fringilla nunc interdum. Phasellus facilisis id justo ac vestibulum. Sed eget lectus lobortis, placerat justo a, molestie orci. Nulla facilisi. Pellentesque auctor hendrerit elit ut laoreet.
<indent>Third paragraph. Aenean et diam aliquet, malesuada mi ut, porttitor arcu. Ut tempus sapien pellentesque enim commodo, sodales pretium purus luctus. Cras maximus sapien vitae ultrices pellentesque
<etcetera>

[Toxaris]

You have to do this in the code. A forced page break is a bit of hit and miss with readers. You might want to try a 'page-break-before: always', but there is no guarantee it will work. However, a new file will always start on a new page. So, split the files at the correct place if you want to start on a new page.
With regards to indent (please, don't call it tab...), do the following in your stylesheet:

p {text-indent: 0;}
p.initial {text-indent: 1em;}

and then in your xhtml file:

<p class="initial">Text of the first paragraph. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed lectus lorem, pulvinar malesuada fermentum sit amet, tempus a ante. Aliquam tincidunt neque eu risus luctus, id tempus velit facilisis. Etiam ullamcorper convallis lectus, non pulvinar felis ullamcorper nec. Ut nulla erat, condimentum ac molestie id, rhoncus at nisi.</p>
<p>Second paragraph. Nulla faucibus diam et condimentum porttitor. Donec pretium arcu eu sem posuere, quis fringilla nunc interdum. Phasellus facilisis id justo ac vestibulum. Sed eget lectus lobortis, placerat justo a, molestie orci. Nulla facilisi. Pellentesque auctor hendrerit elit ut laoreet.</p>
<p>Third paragraph. Aenean et diam aliquet, malesuada mi ut, porttitor arcu. Ut tempus sapien pellentesque enim commodo, sodales pretium purus luctus. Cras maximus sapien vitae ultrices pellentesque</p>

There are more ways, but this is the easiest I guess.

[nws]

Many thanks and hardstikke bedankt, Toxaris.

Nico

Originally Posted by Toxaris

You have to do this in the code. (...)
There are more ways, but this is the easiest I guess.

[nws]

Allright. This is the extra style I used to also prevent a blank line popping up below the unindented paragraph:

.para1 {
    border-bottom: 0;
    border-top: 0;
    display: block;
    margin-bottom: 0;
    margin-top: 0;
    padding-bottom: 0;
    padding-top: 0;
    text-indent: 0
    }

I refer to this style in every first paragraph of a chapter and it works like a charm. So thanks again. Just wanted to share this with you.

Originally Posted by Toxaris

You have to do this in the code. (...)
There are more ways, but this is the easiest I guess.

[Toxaris]

If you use header tags at the beginning of each chapter, you can even do it easier:

h2 + p {text-indent: 1.2em;}

Then you wont need the para1 class for this then. Also, your class could probably be cleaned up. Normal you don't need the padding, margin and border settings. It is usually easier to set that up in the html or body tag (so one level up). Due to inheritance, it would work downwards into the children.

[dgatwood]

Or if you want to be really general, assuming that there is some tag other than a paragraph tag before the first paragraph, you can do

p {text-indent: 0;}
p + p {text-indent: 1.2em;}

BTW, everybody seems to have gotten it backwards; the first paragraph is supposed to be normal, with the rest indented, not the other way around.

[Notjohn]

Originally Posted by dgatwood

Or if you want to be really general, assuming that there is some tag other than a paragraph tag before the first paragraph, you can do

p {text-indent: 0;}
p + p {text-indent: 1.2em;}

That's really very neat! I confess I didn't understand it when I saw it in another thread.

Originally Posted by dgatwood

BTW, everybody seems to have gotten it backwards; the first paragraph is supposed to be normal, with the rest indented, not the other way around.

And that is very true....

[theducks]

Originally Posted by dgatwood

Or if you want to be really general, assuming that there is some tag other than a paragraph tag before the first paragraph, you can do

p {text-indent: 0;}
p + p {text-indent: 1.2em;}

BTW, everybody seems to have gotten it backwards; the first paragraph is supposed to be normal, with the rest indented, not the other way around.

It is whatever the Publisher wants to do to set the book apart.

I have seen a DEEPER indent on the first Para.
We see Small Caps, bold, Drop Caps, Big first letter

The rule: 'What SELLS'

[dgatwood]

Originally Posted by theducks

It is whatever the Publisher wants to do to set the book apart.

I have seen a DEEPER indent on the first Para.
We see Small Caps, bold, Drop Caps, Big first letter

The rule: 'What SELLS'

No, no, I meant that's what the original poster actually asked for.