BLUE SUN ROOM

Handy fic formatting guide

POSTED BY: MAL4PREZ
UPDATED: Tuesday, February 14, 2012 06:51
SHORT URL: http://bit.ly/xx7tKa
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Monday, September 11, 2006 5:33 AM

MAL4PREZ


This thread is in the interest of doing cool formatting things in fics... the kind of cool things that require *gasp* html knowledge, eek! I'll try to keep everything listed in this first post, so you can check back in here for all the goodies.

This is meant for formatting fics, not threads. So things look weird. There's a copy of this post in the BSR so you can see what it really looks like:

http://www.fireflyfans.net/sunroomitem.asp?i=12910

(Also, as of 3/18/10, I note that right justified paragraphs and a few other things aren't working any more. Oh well.)

*********************************************************************************
For the how-to, click "reply with quote"
*********************************************************************************


If you don't get it, I'm happy to send examples over email. PM me or write to mal4prez at hotmail.com.

Basics

Here's how you do italics, bold, and underline.

Chinese mouseovers:

To show the meaning of Chinese without annoying brackets or whatever, do this:

gé zhi wō

Put your mouse over it to see the meaning - I think there's one kind of browser it doesn't work for, I'm not sure...

Sometimes, there's been problems with longer phrases. I find copy and paste always works better then typing something in, so here's a long one you can copy and replace with your own phrases and meanings:

bù zhī tiān gāo dì hòu

You can combine these with other formats, like italics:

bù zhī tiān gāo dì hòu

Or put them in idented paragraphs, which I'll just leave as homework.

BTW, if you want to put in the inflections - that is, all the weird marks over the characters - I have a theory for what works. Might take time to explain, so just I'll add it if there's interest.

Right-justified and centered paragraphs:

This text is left-justified.

This text is right-justified.



This text is centered.


And this paragraph is back to the left.

Indented Paragraphs

This one is tricky the way I do it. (There must be an easier way, but I haven't figured it out. Help??)

First, you need to know how paragraphs end:

FFF automatically formats paragraphs in fics by adding an empty line and indenting the next paragraph. This happens where you have a carriage-return in your typing. It you use a p inside < and > brackets with NO CARRIAGE RETURN, (so two lines appear to run together before you post them) you will get the empty line and no indent. If you use a br inside < and > brackets, you get a simple new line - no blank line, no indent. Example:

Line 1 has a typed carriage return at its end
Line 2 has a p in brackets and no carriage return, which will make the next line not indent.

Line 3 has a br in brackets and no carriage return, which means no empty line to follow and no indent.
Line 4 is just like Line 3.
Line 5 ends with a carriage return.

And all text after is back to the usual thing.

To make deeply indented single spaced paragraphs, you need to insert spaces at the beginning of lines 3 through 5 above. To make spaces that won't be ignored, use & nbsp but without the space between the & and the nbsp.

You'll just have to believe me about the nbsp guy, because when you click "reply-with-quote", all you see are the spaces. Really. I typed in the & nbsp things - ten of them, right next to eachother, with no spaces, just at the beginning of lines 3 through 5. But it does works, see:

Line 1
Line 2

Line 3
Line 4
Line 5

And now we're back to normal text again.

Sorry this is so textbook-ish. I don't know how else to show how to do it! And there has to be an easier way. Anyone???

*********Added Jan 24:

An easier but less precise way of having indented text is to use the blockquote command. This doesn't automatically bring in the right margin, but I'm sure there are ways of doing that if you really want to. Here we go with a blockquote:



It’ll indent the quote lines and change the font. You can select the font that it will use by changing the FONT FACE setting, which I did to make this ARIAL.

This is useful for verse (not “uni”verse – songs or poems) or, say, someone writing a letter. That kind of thing.



Links to other pages

Link to another webpage with the following, but replace { with < and } with > and the web address with what ever you want. (I put in the address of the thread that goes with this.)

This is a link to {A HREF=" http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=12&t=23872"}this thread{/A}.

What this looks like when done right:

This is a link to this" target="_BLANK">http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=12&t=23872">this thread.

Tables

*******Added on Jan 24

Here's a way of using a table to line up the Chinese definitions - FFF seems to want to make the font too big, but this fixes that:












dŏng ma: understand?
fā fēng: go crazy
nán dù: trouble; problem



Other useful things??

Use hr in the pointy brackets <> to get a horizontal rule to separate sections.




And you can make it colored (weee!):






That is the end of my knowledge. Please share on the thread if you know cool stuff, or ask if there's something in particular you'd like to do and maybe someone will know...

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Monday, September 11, 2006 5:49 AM

DESKTOPHIPPIE


On the tables stuff - I think you have to specify the font style and size for the table as well as for the rest of the fic. Tables are taken as something completely different. You can add the details in the table html tag. Is you're using a style sheet you can also specify table font syles and size there, as far as I know.




More animations available at http://desktophippie.googlepages.com

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Monday, September 11, 2006 6:11 AM

MAL4PREZ


Do you know how to specify the table font style? I tried and failed. Many times! But html is really not my thing, it's probably really simple...

If anyone can make an example of a table - please do! It's beyond me. Oh - and no lines if possible. So it's just a way of tabbing stuff. (I wanted this for Chinese translation tables cause I'm a dork and I like things to line up. )

Now, like the slacker I am, I am abandoning my new thread. I get to work at home for the afternoon, yay! I'll check in tomorrow. I hope there will lots of cool ideas...

And, um... style sheet?

-----------------------------------------------
I'm the president. I don't need to listen.

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Monday, September 11, 2006 5:32 PM

NOSADSEVEN


Am I the only one who doesn't see the actual "how" of the basics and Chinese mouse-over?

It reminds me of this:
http://fireflyfans.net/sunroomitem.asp?i=7660
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ain't. We. Just.

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Tuesday, September 12, 2006 3:30 AM

MAL4PREZ


Quote:

Originally posted by nosadseven:
Am I the only one who doesn't see the actual "how" of the basics and Chinese mouse-over?

It reminds me of this:
http://fireflyfans.net/sunroomitem.asp?i=7660
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ain't. We. Just.



Click the reply-with-quote on the original post and look at the quote. There's the how!

-----------------------------------------------
I'm the president. I don't need to listen.

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Tuesday, September 12, 2006 4:26 AM

NOSADSEVEN


Ahh...clever.

So, can you add in how to insert links?

And, do you know how to link to a specific part of the document?

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ain't. We. Just.

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Wednesday, September 13, 2006 6:19 AM

MAL4PREZ


I put in something about linking, which is really great for allowing readers to go from one chapter to the next. I highly encourage it.

I don't know how to link to specific parts of a document, sorry!

Is this actually helping anyone? I hope so!

-----------------------------------------------
I'm the president. I don't need to listen.

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Sunday, September 17, 2006 12:54 PM

STINKINGROSE


I had the chinese in italics when I wrote something, I posted it and they reverted to plain text. The first time I posted I hadn't used italics and corrected after posting. It worked fine that time. Do I need to alter things from Appleworks when I post it, or post and then quickly revise or what? Or was this just a freakish playful space monkey thing...

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Sunday, September 17, 2006 5:39 PM

PHOENIXROSE

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.


It is helping! Now I just need to write something...

http://www.bigdamnthankyou.com - show Universal your gratitude!

You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection. - Gautama Siddharta

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Monday, September 18, 2006 3:45 AM

MAL4PREZ


Quote:

Originally posted by stinkingrose:
I had the chinese in italics when I wrote something, I posted it and they reverted to plain text. The first time I posted I hadn't used italics and corrected after posting. It worked fine that time. Do I need to alter things from Appleworks when I post it, or post and then quickly revise or what? Or was this just a freakish playful space monkey thing...



You never can tell what those space monkeys are up to.

Um - Appleworks? I know nothing! I write in word because I have given in to the evil software empire...

But none of the formatting in word stays when the fic is posted, and it's likely the same in Appleworks. If you want something in italics, you have to lead with {i} and end with {/i} - where { means [ and } means ].

Is that a useful answer?

-----------------------------------------------
I'm the president. I don't need to listen.

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Monday, September 18, 2006 1:21 PM

STINKINGROSE


You're basically saying "just put it in brackets", neh?
I like the italics because it doesn't disrupt the flow of the reading but rather allows you to glide over something that could otherwise derail your concentration when you don't recognize it as an English word.

All hail the graet ytpo!

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Monday, September 18, 2006 1:56 PM

MAL4PREZ


Not all of it is in brackets... it's the same way you italicize words in a post. Like this:

I want to {i}italicize{/i} cool fic stuff.

I just use the curly brackets so you can see the formatting. When I use square brackets instead of curlies, the web site interprets it:

I want to italicize cool fic stuff.

Does that help?


Edit: I read your post again, I think I'm confused. But I'm not sure.

Are you asking how to italicize in general, or just discussing italicized Chinese? I'm feeling a little clueless. Need to eat.

I have no problem with italicizing Chinese, but, for my own fic, I prefer to use the intonation stuff (the funny marks over the vowels) to make it clear that it is a foreign word. That disturbs me less than having the Chinese stand out, either by brackets or asterisks or italics. But that's just me. And clearly I'm easily confused.

-----------------------------------------------
I'm the president. I don't need to listen.

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Monday, September 18, 2006 2:14 PM

STINKINGROSE


Alpha geek hubby just put it in Captain Dummy language. I grok now.

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Monday, September 18, 2006 2:17 PM

MAL4PREZ


alpha geek husband = good man to have around

Off I go to eat. Finally! (day of too much travel...)

-----------------------------------------------
I'm the president. I don't need to listen.

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Monday, September 18, 2006 2:18 PM

STINKINGROSE


Alpha Geek hubby just put it in Captain Dummy language. I grok now.
And I just figured out how to get those emoticons I've been unable to cut and paste.
I thought it was just a handy guide to expressions.


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Sunday, October 29, 2006 8:24 AM

PHOENIXROSE

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.


Givin this a bump, to let people know it's here if they missed it!

[]

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Sunday, October 29, 2006 11:34 AM

STINKINGROSE


Bumpity bump and bookmarking!

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Saturday, January 13, 2007 10:13 PM

PHOENIXROSE

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.


*sneaks in and bumps thread*

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Wednesday, January 24, 2007 8:23 AM

MAL4PREZ


I added a few things today... if you dig through the original post, you'll find how-tos for:

- centering paragraphs
- including blockquotes (an easier way to indent sections)
- using horizontal lines to separate sections
- using tables to align text

BTW, I've been trying to set up a style sheet for my fics, but it doesn't work when I try to apply it. I'm either messing up, (highly likely!) or the BSR is ignoring my efforts.

Has anyone been successful with this?

-----------------------------------------------
I'm the president. I don't need to listen.

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Monday, February 19, 2007 5:50 AM

FIZZIX


Quote:

Originally posted by mal4prez:
I added a few things today... if you dig through the original post, you'll find how-tos for:

- centering paragraphs
- including blockquotes (an easier way to indent sections)
- using horizontal lines to separate sections
- using tables to align text

BTW, I've been trying to set up a style sheet for my fics, but it doesn't work when I try to apply it. I'm either messing up, (highly likely!) or the BSR is ignoring my efforts.

Has anyone been successful with this?

-----------------------------------------------
I'm the president. I don't need to listen.



OMFG! I mean that in all the sense that you have to say it OHMFGUH!... yeah.

You can use HTML in teh BSR!? YYYYYES! I <3 HTML.
But it sounds like you're trying to use CSS, and I don't know that it'll let you do that, but, alas, I didn't know you could use HTML. *giddy*

Squee moment for the Fizzix!

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Monday, May 7, 2007 4:07 AM

CHAZZER


Hope it's okay to use this thread to test if I've got the formatting thing down.

This thread could use a bump anyway.

Okay

The" target="_BLANK">http://www.fireflyfans.net/sunroomitem.asp?i=15751">The Most Important Job ,




“It’s okay, mei mei…” he whispered.

Hope this works....

Love Chaz

*Firmly grasps the Chain of Command*

What?

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Monday, May 7, 2007 4:08 AM

CHAZZER


Hmm, okay, only the chinese thing worked. lemme try again.

The" target="_BLANK">http://www.fireflyfans.net/sunroomitem.asp?i=15751">The Most Important Job,

Love Chaz

*Firmly grasps the Chain of Command*

What?

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Monday, May 7, 2007 4:10 AM

CHAZZER


Okay, I forgot, it doesn't work here.

Meh.






Love Chaz

*Firmly grasps the Chain of Command*

What?

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Monday, May 7, 2007 4:35 AM

MAL4PREZ


I use old fics to test formatting - my commentary ones that I figure no one is reading anyway. I keep editing and reloading until I get it right. That's why I have crazy high hit counts on those LOL!

-----------------------------------------------
I'm the president. I don't need to listen.

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Thursday, May 24, 2007 7:50 PM

TUJIAOZUO


Thanks a ton, I was really confused with the whole fic thing and how to format, but you answered all of my questions

Ash

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Friday, May 25, 2007 3:48 AM

MAL4PREZ


Quote:

Originally posted by TuJiaoZuo:
Thanks a ton, I was really confused with the whole fic thing and how to format, but you answered all of my questions

Ash



Glad to hear it! It's good to have another writer around here. Welcome, and I hope you're having fun!

-----------------------------------------------
I'm the president. I don't need to listen.

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Friday, August 17, 2007 10:47 AM

PHOENIXROSE

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.


I thought that this deserved a bump. Now that formatting is back to normal, we can use it again


Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
A troll's hair is still pointy, even when it's wearing a hat.

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Sunday, September 23, 2007 7:13 AM

BADINTHELATIN


I just tried the "reply with quote" thing, and it didn't do a damned thing. Wussup with that?

I aim to misbehave.

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Sunday, September 23, 2007 7:17 AM

WYTCHCROFT


damn straight - formatting in the BSR is like dancing with the First!

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Sunday, September 23, 2007 1:19 PM

MAL4PREZ


Another little deal - since the virus attack last summer, Haken has turned off a lot of html interpretating in the BSR. I PMed him about the problems I was having, and they all went away. All hail Haken!!

As for the reply-with-quote... um, if you click that on the first post of this thread, you'll get the reply entry text box, and it'll have the first post included in it with all the formatting showing. Does that make sense? Am I even understanding your problem right?

-----------------------------------------------
hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left

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Sunday, September 23, 2007 2:03 PM

NBZ


Quote:

Originally posted by badinthelatin:
I just tried the "reply with quote" thing, and it didn't do a damned thing. Wussup with that?

I aim to misbehave.



That only works if you are logged in before you click that link. If you see a login screen after clicking that link, there will no longer be a quote.

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Monday, September 24, 2007 12:40 PM

BADINTHELATIN


Quote:

Originally posted by nbz:
Quote:

Originally posted by badinthelatin:
I just tried the "reply with quote" thing, and it didn't do a damned thing. Wussup with that?

I aim to misbehave.



That only works if you are logged in before you click that link. If you see a login screen after clicking that link, there will no longer be a quote.



Thanks a bunch! That did the trick.

You get a warm fuzzy!

I aim to misbehave.

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Thursday, September 25, 2008 6:19 AM

NEEDY

The road to Hel is paved with good intentions


Bumping this oh-so-handy thread!

-----
Needy. Male Companion: Chosen One?
-----
http://needsalt.livejournal.com/
www.myspace.com/dicksquinty The World's Greatest Detective?

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Thursday, April 30, 2009 1:07 PM

MAL4PREZ


Bump

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Friday, March 19, 2010 3:39 AM

MAL4PREZ


Another bump for someone who asked me about formatting...

-----------------------------------------------
hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left

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Monday, May 9, 2011 9:50 AM

MAL4PREZ


Bump for EBfiddler

Although, it seems like much of this doesn't work anymore, given security updates Haken's had to do on account of evil spammers and such. And I haven't tested any of this with the new 2.0 site. But I do believe the mouse-over stuff still works.


-----------------------------------------------
hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left

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Saturday, January 28, 2012 1:23 PM

EBFIDDLER


Bump for HeWhoKicksAlot

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Tuesday, February 14, 2012 6:51 AM

EBFIDDLER


Bump for Penquin11

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