I was reading a thesis report of a friend and I noticed that he didn't indent the first line of the first paragraph in each chapter. I don't remember noticing it anywhere before until I saw it there and I have some OCD issues with reformatting the documents/reports and make them look awesome.
So I would like to know, if I'm going to write a new document/report that is divided in chapters and paragraphs, what kind of indentation should I prefer? Should I indent all the first lines of the paragraphs regarding if it's the first in a chapter or not and why one method is better than the other?
Answer
I have been taught to always leave the first line of a chapter/section unindented, then make all subsequent paragraphs indented. I have also seen all paragraphs indented.
I came across a good discussion on first line indents which notes that, in Robert Bringhurst's Elements of Typographic Style, he states that "opening paragraphs" should be "flush left" because "[t]he function of a paragraph indent is to mark a pause, setting the paragraph apart from what precedes it. If a paragraph is preceded by a title or subhead, the indent is superfluous and can therefore be omitted".
(They also mention that Chicago rules state that "the first line of text following a subhead may begin flush left or be indented by the usual paragraph indention.")
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