Layout - Refactoring HTML: Improving the Design of Existing Web Applications - page 192

For example, this is an old attempt to indent a paragraph 20 pixels by prefixing it with a transparent spacer
GIF:
<p>
<img src="spacer.gif" width="20" height="1" />
I was not able to light on any map or work giving the exact
locality of the Castle Dracula, as there are no maps of this
country as yet to compare with our own Ordnance Survey Maps;
but I found that Bistritz, the post town named by Count Dracula,
is a fairly well-known place. I shall enter here some of my notes,
as they may refresh my memory when I talk over my travels
with Mina.
</p>
You can easily replace this with a text-indent CSS property with the value 20px :
<p style="text-indent: 20px">
I was not able to light on any map or work giving the
exact locality...
</p>
Better still, use a text relative unit of measure, such as ems, so that the indent will grow and shrink as
necessary to match the browser's default font size:
<p style="text-indent: 4em">
I was not able to light on any map or work giving the
exact locality...
</p>
As always, this rule can and probably should be placed in an external stylesheet.