HTML-like paragraphs in static preview

HTML paragraphs do not have their text indented. There is
vertical blank space between two paragraphs in HTML. The static
preview though behaves like the default paragraphs rendered with
LaTeX.  They do not have any vertical space between them and the
first line of each paragraph is indented.

This issue occurs even though \setlength commands have been used
for \parindent and \parskip in the LaTeX template being used
with the pandoc command. The \setlength commands occur before
\begin{document} command, and this seems to be causing an issue
with the standalone document class. When the \setlength commands
are moved after the \begin{document} command, this issue is
resolved.