Add space between paragraphs in Beamer

Question

Customizing spacing between paragraphs in Beamer plagues me constantly. To split two paragraphs by one empty line I usually put \medskip tag between paragraphs, but this is very ugly solution.

Now I try with \parskip, which works fine, but fails inside various environments (e.g., also affecting spacing between items in itemize environment). Minimum example is pasted below.

Any help is much appreciated.

\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage[utf8x]{inputenc}
\usepackage{parskip}
\setlength{\parskip}{\smallskipamount} 

\begin{document}
\begin{frame}{Test frame}
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum quis erat dolor. Aenean tincidunt sem non quam feugiat tempus.

Sed semper justo vitae sem ultrices semper. Mauris urna leo, dictum eget vulputate vitae, venenatis ut leo.
\end{frame}
\end{document}

Answer 1

I had the same problem: blank lines in latex articles produces a clearly separated paragraph, but in Beamer, with the limited space and no indentation, the default new paragraph is does not strikingly separate the paragraphs.

My hack solution was to append the following latex code to the end of the paragraph that should have the space.

\\~\

For example, try inserting this into a Beamer latex file:

\frame{
  This is text that should have a blank line after it. \\~\\
  Here is text following a blank line.
}

Answer 2

I've noticed this too when preparing slides. Rather than have two paragraphs and separate them with vertical space explicitly, I've often used one of the following workarounds:

• convert each of the paragraphs you want to split to a block-like environment such as theorem, question, answer, etc. That way (in my theme, at least) they get boxed and visually separated.

• if the two paragraphs are supporting material to the same point, use an itemize enviroment and make each its own \item. Then you get some vertical separation and a visual cue (bullet, triangle, or anything else you want) indicating that these are separate ideas.

Either one of these will make the frame more readable.

Answer 3

I'm not sure exactly what you want, but perhaps you'll find the tex command \vfill to be useful. I often put that between chunks of text so they get spaced out over the slide, which makes the slide easier for the viewer.

My other hint, as a long-time lecturer and audience member, is to use as few words as possible. Use slides for diagrams (in technical talks) or pretty pictures that evoke changing themes (in non-technical talks). Avoid paragraphs, and even sentences. Don't force audience members to decide whether to listen to you or read your material.

Answer 4

I am using this command for defining distance between block or expanding blocks. This one for vertical

\vspace{0.3cm}

This one for horizontal.

\hspace{0.3cm}

Answer 5

I think your original approach works just fine, if you just discard the parskip package. Doing that DOES increase between paragraph spaces while leaving the itemize environment unaffected.

\documentclass{beamer}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage[utf8x]{inputenc}
\setlength{\parskip}{\baselineskip} 

\begin{document}
\begin{frame}{Test frame}
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vestibulum quis     erat dolor. Aenean tincidunt sem non quam feugiat tempus.

\begin{itemize} \itemsep0em
\item abcdefg 
\item abcdefgabcdefgabcdefg
\item abcdefg
\end{itemize}


Sed semper justo vitae sem ultrices semper. Mauris urna leo, dictum eget vulputate vitae, venenatis ut leo.

Sed semper justo vitae sem ultrices semper. Mauris urna leo, dictum eget vulputate vitae, venenatis ut leo.
\end{frame}
\end{document}