The relatively large resistivity in the solar photosphere and chromosphere softens the ideal tangential discontinuities of magnetostatic equilibrium into continuous transitions in field direction over scales of 0.1–10 km. This softening is communicated upward at the Alfvén speed into the active solar corona. The degree of softening is a vital part of the theory of magnetic heat input to the active X-ray corona, because the very low resistivity of the coronal gas provides effective dissipation only if the current sheets are reduced to a thickness of 10−2km.