Basic Book Design/Indentation

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Don't indent the first paragraph of a chapter or section. Only following paragraphs are indented.

LaTeX automatically does this. Microsoft Word doesn’t.

If you use Microsoft Word, you'll have to create a new style for "First Paragraph" and manually set all these first paragraphs into that style.

[edit] How Much To Indent?

Paragraphs should be indented at least far as the font is high. I.e., if you’re using a 12-point font, indent your paragraphs at least 12 points, or 0.17 inches.

Indent no more than the leading. E.g., with 15 points of leading, indent no more than 0.21 inches.

Microsoft Word's default is 0.5 inches. That much indent looks amateurish. It may put too much white space between words on the first line.

Another sign of amateur design is to put a blank line between paragraphs.