Why do variables take up space in the output?

TomJCharles

I might be doing something wrong..I'm using Harlow and I'm pretty new to this. But I notice that macros take up space on the page. Why is this? How do I avoid it?

Thank you very much!

greyelf

If you mean that macros seem to add extra blank lines to the page then it is not the macro itself that is causing that effect, rather it is the line-break after the macro.

a. An example of using a macro that does not leave a blank line:

This text appears on the first line of the page.
(set: $var to "value")This text appears on the second line of the page.

b. An example of using a macro that does leave a blank line:

This text appears on the first line of the page.
(set: $var to "value")
This text appears on the third line of the page.

The Collapsing whitespace markup section of the Harlowe Manual explains how to use markup to reduce unwanted line-breaks.

This text appears on the first line of the page.
{(set: $var to "value")
This text appears on the second line of the page.}

TomJCharles

I see what you mean, thanks. I like having a lot of space in my passages, so that was what was causing the issue.