Line breaks in blogger

Since this post, Blogger has introduced changes to its "new editor" that affect the way line breaks and other HTML are handled. Under Post Options, there are new choices for HTML and Compose. For more information, read the overview of the new post editor to avoid confusion! The HTML option to "Ignore newlines" works fine. Nevertheless, I've found that switching to Compose from HTML and back DESTROYS paragraph tags no matter which "Compose" option is selected. That is, "Interpret typed HTML" removes all <p> tags and replaces breaks with <br />. Selecting "Show HTML literally" changes tags to viewable text. If you have to switch, copy the post to the clipboard first so that you can restore the mangled HTML! Previewing from the HTML tab seems to work alright, though.

I didn't see this coming, but blogger's handling of line breaks is the one thing I would like to change most in an otherwise very nice program. The conversion of each line break to a <br /> tag works relentlessly and saves time when typing a series of simple paragraphs. But the convenience has a dark side.

The lack of real <p> tags is semantically incorrect and hard to overlook. Even so, it seems like a a reasonable sacrifice for ease of use. Until, one day, unnecessary <br /> tags inevitably appear in the middle of scripts, before <pre> tags, between list items in unordered and ordered lists, and in great goopy multiples in pasted content. There's no fix except to edit the HTML and remove every last line break that adds unwanted space.

After laboriously editing several long posts that looked silly and disconnected all spread out, I pulled the plug on "Convert line breaks" and updated all my posts. If you turn off auto line breaks and fail to update your old posts, it's not a pretty sight, at least with the old editor. Once you've made your choice, it's a commitment to use the HTML editor going forward, except for very rare occasions.

What happens if you fall of the wagon and use Compose?

I haven't tested the new blogger editor extensively, but its behavior is not as "hands-off" as the old editor, which left existing paragraph tags alone. In fact, it carried on with new <p> tags in a test draft post that I started in HTML view and continued in Compose mode, as though it wanted to please. However, if you start out in Compose mode, it adds divs where there are line breaks. Whenever I edit a complicated post, I always paste it into Ultra Edit for safekeeping and tidying up.

After I switched to the new editor, I noticed that it does nuke <p> tags if you switch from the HTML editor to Compose. If I need to switch, I copy and paste code to Ultra Edit (although any text editor is fine), use Compose to add an image or whatever, switch back to HTML mode and paste my "good" code over everything but the new addition. This is faster than replacing non-semantic divs with paragraph tags. I really do use the HTML editor almost 100% of the time!

My wish is for an editor in which Enter inserts a paragraph tag and Shift-Enter, a line break. Maybe that's too much ask. Couldn't bloggers who never type anything but plain text into their posts keep the current option? Can we have our cake and eat it too? I'm hoping.