Paragraph settings

Question

I am using the paragraph settings shown below: Correct use of \paragraph titles?

1) How can I reduce the size between the paragragphs?

2) Should I reduce the gap between paragraph title and text, and if yes, how can I do it?

MWE:

\documentclass[12pt,ngerman,twoside]{article}

\let\originalparagraph\paragraph
\renewcommand{\paragraph}[2][.]{\originalparagraph{#2#1}}

\begin{document}

\paragraph{Paragraph name}

Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text.Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text. Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text.Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text.

\paragraph{Paragraph name}

Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text.Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text. Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text.Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text Text text.

\end{document}

Answer 1

I would not recommend changing \parskip or any other parameters which often are used in unexpected places and will inevitably have unintended consequences down the road.

You could just rewrite the definition for \paragraph as follows:

\let\originalparagraph\paragraph
\makeatletter
\renewcommand\paragraph{%%
  \@startsection{paragraph}%%                        name                
                {4}%%                                level               
                {\z@}%%                              indentation         
                {1ex \@plus1ex \@minus.2ex}%%        beforeskip
                {-1em}%%                             afterskip
                {\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}}%% style
\makeatother

In the above snippet, I just copied and pasted the definition for \paragraph and then made changes to the arguments (namely beforeskip) to illustrate how you can modify this to achieve the effects you desire.

Alternatively, you can (as suggested in the comments) use the titlesec package:

\let\originalparagraph\paragraph
\titleformat\paragraph[runin]
                        {\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}
                        {mypar}
                        {0pt}
                        {}{}
\titlespacing\paragraph{0pt}%%             left margin spacing
                       {1ex minus 0.5ex}%% spacing above the \paragraph
                       {1em}%%             horizontal offset from title (horizontal because the `runin` shape was used.)

The titlesec package gives you a lot of power to control just about anything you would want with how your section commands are formatted that otherwise could be rather difficult to realize.

Answer 2

1) Add \setlength{\parskip}{-5mm} before \begin{document} or add \vspace {-1ex} after each paragraph.

2) Add \hspace{-1em} between each paragraph definition and text.

Modify values as needed.