LaTeX end section or subsection

[wil3]

hello. I'm trying to get better acquainted with\LaTeX\ but I'm having some issues with document hierarchy. I've set LaTeX to automatically indent subsections by 1 inch, subsubsections by 2 in, etc. This way progressive sections "funnel" down the right side of the page. I've already done the necessary modification to the commands, the issue involves jumping back to a higher level, ie removing the indentation.

I don't want to enter the subsection environment, so I've been using the \section{title here}, \subsection{}, and \subsubsection{} commands.

I've tried using the \begin{subsection}, etc commands, but I get this compile error:

./tensoritis.tex:98: Missing \endcsname inserted.
<to be read again>
\@@par
l.98 \end
{subsection}
?

The trick I tried is finishing a subsection, then declaring a new subsection* with no visible title information. For some reason, I end up staying within the subsection.
The application is notetaking, in which I routinely want to funnel down a topic into sections and then jump back up to the main topic being covered.

Thanks very much

[Simon_Tyler]

What do you expect the effect of ending the subsection to be. How will the reader of your notes be able to tell that the subsection has ended?

Maybe you just need a way of indicating the end of a remark/example: eg http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/16453/denoting-the-end-of-example-remark

[wil3]

oops, my bad. My sub sections and subsubsections are progressively indented, so that as I use subsections I get further to the right. That's what I meant by "funnelling."

I forgot that wasn't default. Thanks.

[wil3]

Note: I've modified the original post to make this clear to anyone who comes across this. Does anyone have any clues on how to fix this issue?

[Simon_Tyler]

In which case, can you just change the indent back to the previous one? eg
http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=chngmargonfly

What code do you use to progressively indent your (sub^n)sections?
Could you use something similar?

[wil3]

here's what I've been using:

\let\oldsubsection\subsection
\renewcommand{\subsection}{\leftskip=1in\oldsubsec tion}
\let\oldsubsubsection\subsubsection
\renewcommand{\subsubsection}{\leftskip=1in\oldsub subsection}

I'm still trying to understand that link (I'm a bit of a newbie), but I'll get back to you if that works.