Using Preformatted Text

Browsers usually ignore invisible formatting that doesn't affect page content, such as tabs, extra spaces, extra line feeds, and the like. If you need to display text exactly as entered, however, you can use the Preformatted paragraph format, which wraps the text in the <pre>…</pre> tags and makes browsers display all of the text characters .

Originally, preformatted text was meant to display tabular data in rows and columns , such as the output of a spreadsheet. In order to make the information line up, browsers display preformatted text in a monospaced font such as Courier ( Figure 4.21 ).

Figure 4.21. Preformatted text lines up neatly, as with this table.

To apply preformatting:

1.	Select the text you want to change.
2.	From the Format pop-up menu of the Property Inspector, choose Preformatted. or In the Text category of the Insert Bar, click the Preformatted Text button ( Figure 4.22 ). Figure 4.22. Apply the style with the Preformatted Text button. or Choose Text > Paragraph Format > Preformatted text. The text changes appearance.