title: Set 4 Space Indent in Emacs in Text Mode
body: <p>I've been unsuccessful in getting Emacs to switch from 8 space tabs to 4 space tabs when pressing the <kbd>TAB</kbd> in buffers with the major mode <code>text-mode</code>. I've added the following to my <code>.emacs</code>:</p>
  
  <pre><code>(setq-default indent-tabs-mode nil)
  (setq-default tab-width 4)
  
  ;;; And I have tried
  (setq indent-tabs-mode nil)
  (setq tab-width 4)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>No matter how I change my <code>.emacs</code> file (or my buffer's local variables) the <kbd>TAB</kbd> button always does the same thing.</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>If there is no text above, indent <strong>8</strong> spaces</li>
  <li>If there is text on the previous line, indent to the beginning of the second word</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>As much as I love Emacs this is getting annoying. Is there a way to make Emacs to at least indent 4 space when there's not text in the previous line?</p>