Now suppose you want more space above and below each Shortdesc paragraph. The master definition of the Shortdesc format includes a setting for margin bottom, but none for margin top. However, the master Shortdesc definition inherits properties from format Body, on which it is based:
[Shortdesc] based = Body ...
So, to find out what else is influencing the appearance of Shortdesc, you need to look at the definition of the Body format, which is also in d2htm_formats.ini:
[Body] based = Para margin top = 4pt margin bottom = 0pt margin left = 0pt font size = 10pt font family = Verdana, sans-serif
There you see that margin top is 4pt. So, to add 2pt to the space above and 2pt to the space below each Shortdesc paragraph, in dts_htm_formats.ini:
[Shortdesc] margin top = 6pt margin bottom = 4pt margin left = 24pt color =
Next time you run the DITA Test Suite conversion to any HTML output, text rendered from the <shortdesc> element will be set off from preceding and following text by a little more space.
To see the rest of the settings that can affect the appearance of a Shortdesc paragraph, look at the definition of Body again. Body is based on Para, so check the definition of Para:
[Para] display = block inline = Char line height = 12pt
Para is the end of the line for paragraph formats; but Para uses character formatting from inline format Char, so check the definition of Char:
[Char] display = inline font name = Verdana,serif font size = 10pt
Since Char is not based on any other format, now you know all the properties that combine to determine the appearance of text rendered in HTML from the <shortdesc> element.