The Writing Challenges - A Plea

[mosaix]

I've wanted to post this for a week or two but I've waited until there wasn't a challenge actually in progress, and this is the first opportunity.

I would like this thread to trigger a discussion regarding the formatting of entries in the 75 and 300 word challenges - especially the 300 word.

My eyesight isn't what it was and neither are my powers of concentration so I have to admit that I struggle with some of the entries. I find some of the fonts used too small to read comfortably and when I see some of the formatting (no spacing between paragraphs etc.) I just give up.

I'm interested in other people's opinions on this but my own is that the formatting standards suggested in the critiques forum would be a good place to start and that by adopting a standard this should in no way detract from a well written story.

Note that what I'm saying would in no way apply to 'special' formatting as in Mouse's 'mouse', where the formatting was an integral part of the entry.

I suppose, in the final analysis, that poor formatting of entries will be reflected in the voting. But maybe the authors don't realise why they are getting few, if any, votes so maybe some guidance would be welcomed.

Thoughts?

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

I'd have to agree with you on here to a point, Mosaix. My eyes aren't the best either and I can have some trouble sometimes with longer posts, especially when there's different colors.


But that being said, with the proper paragraph spacings on the default font, I tend to do alright...

 

[Culhwch]

I'm certainly in support of good formatting - I would definitely encourage everyone to consider the formatting as much as they consider content, spelling, grammar, punctuation, and all that jazz.

However as a caveat, the moderating group have noticed a quirk with the forum software where some people will see a post that is at the correct, readable font size, while others will see the same post at a small, hard to read size. We're not sure why this happens, but if I had to hazard a guess it likely has something to do with different browser or PC settings. It is strange that it only happens occasionally, but do keep in mind that the poster may not actually be aware that you are looking at a tiny font.

The other thing I'd add is just a tip. If you are finding a post too small to read, every browser has a zoom function, usually in the bottom right hand corner, and holding down ctrl while scrolling the mouse wheel is usually a quick shortcut. This will quickly increase the size of the text on the screen. It's not going to help with missing paragraph breaks, mind, but it's a start!

 

[Starbeast]

See if your pc has a "zoom" feature* to increase the size of your display. When I read the the entries, I always zoom in and kick back in my chair as I read one post at a time. *(mine is in the upper right corner of the screen, it's a tool feature)

 

[James Coote]

Normally I type up my entry in wordpad or ms word and paste it in. Last month, that (or some other mysterious unbeknown internet voodoo) caused the font to come out teeny tiny when I initially posted it up. Doing that also removes tabs/indenting at the start of paragraphs

However, I also find fonts and colour distract from trying to actually judge the writing

There is also the issue of people like me who leave entry right till 11:30pm on the deadline day. By then I'm usually quite tired and not really thinking straight, which has sometimes lead to regrettable font/colour choices

 

[Mouse]

I agree, Mosaix. Just paragraph breaks would be nice sometimes. I must admit, I've sometimes glossed over entries which are just blocks of text.

And I've said this a few times, but I'll say it again, when you (you as in everybody) paste text from any word document into the reply box, simply press the A icon with the cross through it at the top of the reply box (after highlighting your pasted text) and it sorts out the small fonts and the joined up words and what not. Really isn't difficult.

 

[Lucky_Lola]

the moderating group have noticed a quirk with the forum software where some people will see a post that is at the correct, readable font size, while others will see the same post at a small, hard to read size. We're not sure why this happens, but if I had to hazard a guess it likely has something to do with different browser or PC settings. It is strange that it only happens occasionally, but do keep in mind that the poster may not actually be aware that you are looking at a tiny font.

This happened to me after posting my entry for November's 75 worder. I wish I could recreate how it happened, but I was cursing the forum software's refusal to acknowledge the TAB button while trying to insert 'burned gaps' in the text. Next minute the entire forum page was 3/4 the size it had been. It stayed like that for a week, at least, and I couldn't for the life of me find a way to alter it.

I'll add my name to the formatting petition I'm a little OCD about formatting my own work, I like abusing white space (perhaps a little too much, heh), or leaving a single word or fragment on its own. I think the wall of text is off-putting to everyone. While a formatting standard would be advantageous, I think the Powers That Be here shouldn't make anything too concrete or restrictive. A minimum font size rather than a compulsory font size, for example.

 

[Hex]

It can depend on the typeface you use too. In the last challenge I picked a fancy looking typeface for my time travellers' voices but shortly after I posted, I got a message from someone (thank you!) saying it was unreadably small. It still looked fine to me with my settings but when I tried to enlarge it, I found I couldn't, so I switched typeface.

So as far as I was concerned the horrible text was a standard size -- it just didn't appear like that for everyone. Complicated, 'sall. What Culhwch said.

(I agree that it's nice to have white space, unless the story calls for it not to have -- was thinking of HB's rap entry a couple of months ago, when having all the text together worked really well as an effect).

 

[Mouse]

The different font thing would be (I think) when you pick a font on your PC that not everybody has, so it shows up as something different to someone who doesn't have that font installed. If you use the fonts available from the drop down on the Chrons you shouldn't (technically) have that problem.

Course, if you were using the drop down and still had the problem, then it's not that.

 

[Ursa major]

Some of us only see the top half of the drop down font menu, so if we want, say, Times New Roman, we have** to import the text as that.





** - Actually, when moving to the Advanced Editor, or (less frequently) when using the preview function within the Advanced Editor, I'm shown a page where the default font is Times New Roman (and so I can use ctrl-<space> to force the text to it; this also works when removing bold, italic and/or underline). Sadly, the font always reverts to Verdana when the post leaves the editor.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

I don't have much of the drop-down menu on my computer at home, so it's hard to tell what it will look like to other people sometimes. I do try to make sure it's a decent size of type in whatever font.

Mouse, I tried the little double-As thing when I posted my story this time, but it didn't help -- as soon as I hit "preview post", all the weird spacing showed up just like always. For me, anyway, it doesn't do it when I post from work (Safari on Mac) but it does when I post from home (IE on PC).

 

[Hex]

Weirdly enough, it was the drop down menu in Advanced. The two I had problems with were System and Fixedsys. I just meant to agree with Cul that I didn't see anything wrong but luckily someone else did and warned me.

 

[Phyrebrat]

Actually, when moving to the Advanced Editor, or (less frequently) when using the preview function within the Advanced Editor, I'm shown a page where the default font is Times New Roman (and so I can use ctrl-<space> to force the text to it; this also works when removing bold, italic and/or underline). Sadly, the font always reverts to Verdana when the post leaves the editor.

This also happens to me. I Apple-A and reselect Times New Roman but invariably the font reverts. I know I have to play around with font sizes, too, but that is only to do with the discretion between what a size 3 in, say, Verdana is compared to TNR.

pH