\parindent=0pt
The parameters below are rubber lengths. They can expand ands shrink
\parskip=0pt plus 1pt minus 1pt
\abovedisplayskip=0pt plus 1pt minus 1pt
\belowdisplayskip=0pt plus 1pt minus 1pt
\abovedisplayshortskip=0pt plus 1pt minus 1pt
\belowdisplayshortskip=0pt plus 1pt minus 1pt
abovedisplayshortskip
is used before and equation when the previous line is short, let us say a few words. abovedisplayskip
for the other cases.
\abovedisplayskip=12pt
\abovedisplayshortskip=12pt
this is a longer line of text with several words exceeding the threshold\\
word
\[
a
\]
this is a longer line of text with several words exceeding the threshold
\[
a
\]
\abovedisplayshortskip=0pt
this is a longer line of text with several words exceeding the threshold\\
word
\[
a
\]
For tables figures and other float material the parameters are
\floatsep=6pt plus 2pt minus 2pt
\textfloatsep=6pt plus 2pt minus 2pt
\intextsep=6pt plus 2pt minus 2pt
\floatsep
is the vertical space between floats appearing at the top or bottom of pages, \textflaotsep
is the space between floats and the text when a float appears at the top or bottom of a page. intextsep
is for the cases where the float appears in the text.
For lists, the dimension is \topsep+\parsep
, these are redefined inside the list. You can use special purpose packages to control the appearance of lists (for example enumitem
)