Title: Trouble adding space between sidebar items
Last modified: August 19, 2016

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# Trouble adding space between sidebar items

 *  Resolved [kathysena](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kathysena/)
 * (@kathysena)
 * [16 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/trouble-adding-space-between-sidebar-items/)
 * Hi folks! I’m new here and new to WordPress.org, having moved my blog over from
   Typepad (with the help of a designer). Blog is [http://www.parenttalktoday.com](http://www.parenttalktoday.com).
 * We are trying to figure out how to add space between sidebar items. My designer
   suggested adding </br> between items, but it doesn’t do anything.
 * Also wondering if we can add space between the sidebar headings (ex: Love These
   Bloggers… You Will Too) and the content right below the heading. It’s all crammed
   together.
 * Thanks for helping this newbie!

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

 *  [blogatorul](https://wordpress.org/support/users/blogatorul/)
 * (@blogatorul)
 * [16 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/trouble-adding-space-between-sidebar-items/#post-1265729)
 * try using p>&nbsp</p or simply p></p / use < and > in front of p and after.
 *  Thread Starter [kathysena](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kathysena/)
 * (@kathysena)
 * [16 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/trouble-adding-space-between-sidebar-items/#post-1265734)
 * Thx for the quick reply! I added p>&nbsp</p and it did give me the space I wanted,
   but now in that space you can see p> on the blog itself. You can see it here:
   [http://www.parenttalktoday.com](http://www.parenttalktoday.com).
 *  [alism](https://wordpress.org/support/users/alism/)
 * (@alism)
 * [16 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/trouble-adding-space-between-sidebar-items/#post-1265759)
 * `<br />` moves text down a single line.
    `<p>Some text</p>` is for paragraphs.`&
   nbsp;` is for spaces.
 * So you’re really wanting to use a combination of the last two:
    `<p>&nbsp;</p
   >`
 *  Thread Starter [kathysena](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kathysena/)
 * (@kathysena)
 * [16 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/trouble-adding-space-between-sidebar-items/#post-1265830)
 * It worked! I’m putting that into my cheat sheet right now. THANKS to both of 
   you.
 * They say code is poetry. That’s not quite the word I’d use! 😉
 *  [syncbox](https://wordpress.org/support/users/syncbox/)
 * (@syncbox)
 * [16 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/trouble-adding-space-between-sidebar-items/#post-1265832)
 * Better to use CSS to change a property like margin, padding or line-height for
   the list item in the sidebar… The “heading” of a list of pages, for example, 
   is the `h2` element (assuming the default here, you can control this with the
   title_li param for wp_list_pages(); )INSIDE an `<li>` tag in an unordered list
   `
   <ul>` which you CAN apply an id or class to, so a style rule like:
 *     ```
       li h2 {
       padding-bottom:1em;
       }
       ```
   
 * would affect the space below the heading. If you want to add space BELOW a list
   of pages or categories, adjust the rule that applies to the list itself (`</ul
   >`) as in:
 *     ```
       ul {
       padding-bottom:30px;
       }
       ```
   
 * It helps to understand CSS and honestly, the above is TOO generic. I’d add a 
   class to the tag (eg. ul class=”pagelist”) and define the style’s bottom padding
   there.
 * Between the list item, define bottom padding or line-height for li.cat_item or
   li.page_item… it depends on what type of list.
 * **What I wouldn’t do is use line breaks `<br />` (which is what you would use
   for xhtml, not `<br />` and not `</br>`. Nor would I use paragraph tags when 
   not using paragraphical content.** Remember, html elements should be semantically
   correct.
 * If you can point to a site with the examples in mind, a person could be more 
   specific about how to get what you want.
 * HTH

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

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## Tags

 * [css](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/css/)
 * [formatting](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/formatting/)

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 5 replies
 * 4 participants
 * Last reply from: [syncbox](https://wordpress.org/support/users/syncbox/)
 * Last activity: [16 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/trouble-adding-space-between-sidebar-items/#post-1265832)
 * Status: resolved

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