User support

Frequently asked questions

How do I use indentation?

Background

Visual Liturgy has to deal with both wide-left margins and full-out services. For example, if you use the Methodist version of Visual Liturgy, the services are full-out. By contrast, Common Worship tends to use indentation. In the texts themselves, the indent is simply a matter of how the text is input, using tabs or paragraph indents to achieve the desired result.

It is more complex when it comes to headings. How does a heading know whether it should be indented or not? This is the purpose of the "Indented" option in Text Details.

This option tells Visual Liturgy that it is okay to indent the heading over this item. It will do so automatically if "Smart heading indent" is selected in Edit - Preferences - Service. However, this is not checked by default.

In the Properties for an item in the service list, there is an option on the Heading tab to "Always indent heading". If this option is chosen, it will override and indent the heading, whatever the other settings may be.

Finally, there is a problem with hymns because hymns that have texts are marked as "indented" whereas those without texts are not. If you wish to add the text of a hymn, don't forget to mark it as "indented" by going to the Show or Edit text menu and check the Indented box.

Therefore:

• If you want to follow the Liturgical Commission's recommendation for full-out headings, but occasionally want to have a heading indented, use Always indent heading.
• If you want most headings indented, check Smart heading indent. Headings over items which are marked as indented (which is most VL3 items) will also be indented automatically.
• If you are adding a new liturgical item to be used with VL3, it is best to check "indented".