You set line spacing and the gap between paragraphs for each TextBox in Inspector > Text, in the Spacing section. Line Height controls the space between lines. Before Paragraph and After Paragraph control the gap between paragraphs. Every time you press Return, EverWeb starts a new paragraph, and new paragraphs get a gap after them, which is why your lines can look further apart than you expected.
Change the spacing of your text
- Click the TextBox once to change all the text in it. To change only some paragraphs, double-click into the box and highlight them. To change several TextBoxes at once, hold Shift and click each one.
- Go to Inspector > Text and open the Spacing section.
- Change the setting you need (see the table below). Type a number, or use the slider or the arrows.
- Publish your website. If you changed text on several pages, use File > Publish Entire Site.
| Setting | What it changes | Values |
|---|---|---|
| Line Height | The space between the lines inside a paragraph | 1.00 is single spacing, 2.00 is double. Try 1.3 to 1.5 for body text that's comfortable to read |
| After Paragraph | The gap below a paragraph | 0 to 400 pixels. 0 means no gap |
| Before Paragraph | The gap above a paragraph | 0 to 400 pixels. Usually 0 |
| Character Spacing | The space between letters | Negative numbers bring letters closer, positive numbers spread them out |
| Inset Margin | The space between the text and the edge of its box | 0 to 300 |
For a bigger gap between two paragraphs, increase After Paragraph rather than pressing Return twice. An empty line is a whole extra paragraph, so it adds its own height plus another gap.
Lines close together with no gap (addresses, opening hours, poems)
EverWeb doesn't have a separate "line break" key. Return, and Shift+Return, both start a new paragraph, so each new line gets the After Paragraph gap. To keep a group of lines tight:
- Highlight the lines, such as the four lines of your address.
- In Inspector > Text > Spacing, set After Paragraph to 0, and check that Before Paragraph is 0.
- If you want a gap after the group, click in its last line and set After Paragraph back to a number such as 15.
Text pasted from Word or an email has big gaps
Pasted text often brings blank lines and its own spacing with it. Paste with Edit > Paste and Match Style instead, then delete any empty lines and set the spacing as above.
Paragraph Styles don't hold spacing
A Paragraph Style saves the font, size, colour and emphasis (such as bold), but not Line Height or paragraph spacing. That's true in both places you edit styles: Format > Website Styles... in EverWeb 4.6 and later, and Format > Default Styles... in EverWeb 4.5. Set the spacing on the TextBox itself. To reuse it, copy a TextBox you've already set up (Edit > Copy, then Edit > Paste) and type your new text into the copy. See Keep your text consistent with Paragraph Styles.
Spacing Presets in Website Styles (EverWeb 4.6 and later) are about something else: the space around objects (margins and padding), not between lines of text. To change the gap between two TextBoxes on a responsive page, select one and use Inspector > Metrics > Margins & Padding.
Text in a widget doesn't change
Some widgets, such as FlexBox and Text Section, have their own text editor in Inspector > Widget Settings. The Spacing settings in the Text Inspector don't reach that text, and the widget editor has no line height setting. Inside those editors:
- Press Return once between paragraphs, never twice.
- If you need control over spacing, rebuild that section with TextBoxes inside a Container. Each TextBox then has the full Spacing settings. See Build a responsive page with Containers so it stacks neatly on a phone.
Blog posts are different: when you're writing a post, the Text Inspector's Line Height, Before Paragraph and After Paragraph settings work on the text of the post.