Best format for submissions - RTF, DocX, or something else?

[gunhilltrain]

I'd hate to

Ugg. I'd hate to put that in everywhere.

It's not so bad; it's just part of the job of submitting here. The only one that is a bit tricky is adding links to other stories (you're not allowed to link outside the site in stories). You many want to link to your own stories if the new one is a sequel to something else. That would be this tag:

https://www.w3schools.com/html/html_links.asp

You don't have to read that entire page; just the top part is sufficient. You do absolutely have to check the link in the Submission box preview mode to be sure it works. A slight error will throw the whole thing off and will probably result in an error message for the readers.

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

Find and Replace works a treat. Takes about two minutes. I try to reduce how much italics I use, and only use bold for a heading, very rarely.

Have to agree. I write in Word, and all I have to do is use Word's search function to find all instances of italic formatting and place the proper tags around the search results.

I especially like that method because, this way, I can decide when to use <i> or <em>.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Find and Replace works a treat. Takes about two minutes. I try to reduce how much italics I use, and only use bold for a heading, very rarely.

I use a lot of italics to indicate the thoughts, no verbalized, of a certain character. That's just one of my quirks, but it works for me. Is it in Annie Hall where Diane Keaton and Woody Allen have a conversation and there are subtitles showing what they are really thinking? Oh yeah, here it is.

For some reason I like doing that kind of thing. What would be the subtitles are formatted as italics for the text version.

 

[goodpen86]

Am I the only one that types straight into the submission text box? I have learned to be anal about hitting save, but I have never really had an issue.

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

For some reason I like doing that kind of thing. What would be the subtitles are formatted as italics for the text version.

I'm not a trained writer, but I was told that it's actually standard practice to use italics for all kinds of disembodied voices. Like the "inner voice" characters use when thinking, text messages or letters a character is reading, the "other end" of a phone conversation,... stuff like that.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I'm not a trained writer, but I was told that it's actually standard practice to use italics for all kinds of disembodied voices. Like the "inner voice" characters use when thinking, text messages or letters a character is reading, the "other end" of a phone conversation,... stuff like that.

That is true, but some writers handle that in other ways. I have to see how some of the pros do it. There is at least one (David Foster Wallace?) who doesn't even use quotation marks, which seems like he's being edgy for its own sake.

For a phone conversation, I just format in the other person's dialogue in the usual way. I rarely have text messages, but if I did I'd use the <kbd> tag. You could look it up, but one site describes the results. I have never actually used it.

The <kbd> tag is used to define keyboard input. The content inside is displayed in the browser's default monospace font.

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

That is true, but some writers handle that in other ways. I have to see how some of the pros do it. There is at least one (David Foster Wallace?) who doesn't even use quotation marks, which seems like he's being edgy for its own sake.

For a phone conversation, I just format in the other person's dialogue in the usual way. I rarely have text messages, but if I did I'd use the <kbd> tag. You could look it up, but one site describes the results. I have never actually used it.

The <kbd> tag is used to define keyboard input. The content inside is displayed in the browser's default monospace font.

I know the kbd tag, but I don't like using it. It may look good, but it messes with every screen reader and TTS app that is set to incorporate semantic tagging into the computer voice. Like the <em> tag is used to emphasize text, causing those apps to read words encapsulated by the em tag a little bit slower, the <kdb> tag is used to instruct "readers" which keys they're meant to press, leading to massive confusion when you declare entire paragraphs as a key on a keyboard.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I know the kbd tag, but I don't like using it. It may look good, but it messes with every screen reader and TTS app that is set to incorporate semantic tagging into the computer voice. Like the <em> tag is used to emphasize text, causing those apps to read words encapsulated by the em tag a little bit slower, the <kdb> tag is used to instruct "readers" which keys they're meant to press, leading to massive confusion when you declare entire paragraphs as a key on a keyboard.

Computer voices and apps: that is a little beyond my pay grade. I guess I should keep that in mind because so many people use them. Anyway, I have yet to use the <kbd> tag. I rarely have used text messages in a plot because so many of my stories are set thirty to fifty years ago. I guess I'm a child of the 20th Century.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

leading to massive confusion when you declare entire paragraphs as a key on a keyboard.

Thanks, TIL

 

[Writer61]

.docx can sometimes hide formatting code. I'd save to .rtf first, to purge hidden code, and then use Preview, once you've pasted into the text box. That shows what it will look like published, and you can easily fix errors in the box.

That's why I have simplified my normal.docx template. Just in case I accidentally use formatting that is verboten in LIT.

 

[gunhilltrain]

. . . leading to massive confusion when you declare entire paragraphs as a key on a keyboard.

This is what I mean in that tech changes faster than I can keep up with it. I don't really know what you're talking about. That's okay, you don't have to explain it! (I think I've mentioned that I'm 68 right now.)

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

Thanks, TIL

Yeah, I don't need them myself, but I have someone in my family who does. One day, we were listening to an ebook she bought, and suddenly it goes like this...

"He heard his phone ring, announcing a new text message. Press the be back in five key. Nodding, he put the phone back into his pocket".

It took us a while to understand what the text actually said...

 

[gunhilltrain]

That's why I have simplified my normal.docx template. Just in case I accidentally use formatting that is verboten in LIT.

It's not exactly "forbidden," but as I mentioned above, it probably just won't show up when you preview the file.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Yeah, I don't need them myself, but I have someone in my family who does. One day, we were listening to an ebook she bought, and suddenly it goes like this...

"He heard his phone ring, announcing a new text message. Press the be back in five key. Nodding, he put the phone back into his pocket".

It took us a while to understand what the text actually said...

Smartphones have gotten overly complex. I've noticed that about both computer hardware and software. The techies who design these things want to it to look cool and edgy, or maybe they have forgotten what "user-friendly" means. Simply having "On" and "off" on something is just too simple for them..

 

[MillieDynamite]

I use RTF most of the time, but on occasion just docx.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Likely means <i></i> and <b></b>

Should normally be <em></em> rather than <i><i> and <strong></strong> rather than <bold></bold>.

<i> = "format this text as italic", which is useless for things like screen readers. <em> = "emphasise this text", with flexibility in how that is done - a standard browser on default settings will represent <em> as italics just as if you'd used <i>, but a screen reader may instead read those words a little louder/slower.

Similarly, <bold> is a specifically visual instruction, whereas <strong> means "strong emphasis".

<i> is still appropriate when using italics for something other than emphasis, e.g. to denote a foreign word.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Am I the only one that types straight into the submission text box? I have learned to be anal about hitting save, but I have never really had an issue.

Somebody else did that a month or so ago, but lost his entire story in a server glitch, then moaned because the site didn't save his story. You're crazy, doing that, I reckon.

 

[Writer61]

Am I the only one that types straight into the submission text box? I have learned to be anal about hitting save, but I have never really had an issue.

That you "learned to be anal" suggests some bad experiences.

Why take the risk?

 

[EmilyMiller]

I'd hate to

Ugg. I'd hate to put that in everywhere.

It’s pretty easy - and <em> and <strong> are now preferable.

Emily

 

[PennameWombat]

I do all of my writing and editing in Google Docs, then save that as a .doc file, then use Libre Office (on both Windows and Linux PCs) for final proofreading and formatting and save the file as a Word .doc file. I've used headers (H1, H2, H3), bolds, italics and ordered and unordered lists. Never had an issue and most stories posted within 24 to 72 hours.

 

[EmilyMiller]

It's not so bad; it's just part of the job of submitting here. The only one that is a bit tricky is adding links to other stories (you're not allowed to link outside the site in stories). You many want to link to your own stories if the new one is a sequel to something else. That would be this tag:

https://www.w3schools.com/html/html_links.asp

You don't have to read that entire page; just the top part is sufficient. You do absolutely have to check the link in the Submission box preview mode to be sure it works. A slight error will throw the whole thing off and will probably result in an error message for the readers.

<a href="your-story-url.html">Your story</a>

Make sure you use " and not “

Emily

 

[Demiurging]

Should normally be <em></em> rather than <i><i> and <strong></strong> rather than <bold></bold>.

<i> = "format this text as italic", which is useless for things like screen readers. <em> = "emphasise this text", with flexibility in how that is done - a standard browser on default settings will represent <em> as italics just as if you'd used <i>, but a screen reader may instead read those words a little louder/slower.

Similarly, <bold> is a specifically visual instruction, whereas <strong> means "strong emphasis".

<i> is still appropriate when using italics for something other than emphasis, e.g. to denote a foreign word.

Interesting, learning new things every day, thank you.

 

[THBGato]

I write on Google Docs (helpful for editors/beta readers). I tried exporting as rtf but the files ended up being too large (which meant I ended up splitting a story I'd ended to be a single story into two). Then I realised that .docx was acceptable.

The only thing I don't like about it is when I embed song lyrics/poetry. In the .docx there are no spaces between the lines, but when they publish here there are spaces. It's not the biggest of deals admittedly.