HTML Format

[kittenfemme]

"Dec. 13, 2003 To authors: there are still stories waiting for uploading. Hopefully all pending stories will be uploaded by next update, if there aren't too many new ones. I also start to use html for better presenting complicated story text format. Email me if you find any problem. Please remember, html is a different format from Word (.doc) or PDF. I can only try my best to reproduce your doc or pdf format, but I can't guarantee the exactly same presentation."

What's this exactly? So there will be a third option to view stories... plain text, pdf, and html? If so, that would be fantastic. Will authors be able to submit their stories in html format as well?

[GaryWilcox]

kittenfemme,

As an example. I come from the Stephen King School of Internal Monologue, where thoughts come out like sentences in italics[. Funny, Gary thought, how Jinn never made use of a simple (if crappy) filter like the one in MS Word to just convert over text...

If you read the text version of my story, it may be difficult determining the difference between dialogue and internal monologue. Having the Rich Text Format I work in converted to HTML would benefit the reader's understanding-- somethingI am really looking forward to.

If it will help Jinn, I can just submit my stories in HTML code... but that's something to offer when I submit them!

[kittenfemme]

*nod* I agree GW. I also look forward to submitting my stories in a rich text format and would be happy to submit them with HTML tags already in place.

[Kallie Thomas]

Are we talking the simple html tagging, such as bracket i bracket for italics? Will we be given a list of which tags will be available? Would love to be able to use italics, bold, perhaps underlining.

[Tiger]

Thanks Gary. html format not only give authors various ways for text formatting, but also allow you to use special characters in your story, like £ or å.

I haven't really thought about which tags should be used, which shouldn't. But I will always try to use the simplest and most common tags.

Most stories submitted as Word doc or rtf files. But I still don't have a good format converter to convert them to html format. I don't use Word to "save as" html because it adds a lot of junk in the html file. So at most times, I will still manually check the html format to make sure it looks ok. If you can send html file directly, you will save me a lot of time. But please keep your html codes as simple and clean as possible.

I will use html format for all new stories. But I won't use it to the old stories unless the author could submit a new version of the whole story with all the necessary formats.

[Kallie Thomas]

I compose all my stuff in Word. I am adept at adding my html tagging within the text--will this work for you? If not, I do have Movie Magic Screenwriter, which has a novel template and can be saved as pretty much anything (.rtf, .html, .txt, .doc, etc)--it's a bit of a pain to work with as compared to word, but I'm easy =) Which would be better for you?

Let me know, please.

Kallie

[kittenfemme]

Phat, and thank you for the post Jinn. I hear you're rather busy lately.

I'm happy to format the stories I submit. Would you prefer < p > tags for each paragraph or < br > line breaks between them?

[Aurelius]

The logical thing to do is save and submit stories in HTML format. MS Word does of course have a Save As option for HTML. It is however every bit as messy and cluttered as one would expect from MS. As a HTML purist, I find it truly ghastly!

As for writing tools, I recommend the oddly named Yeah Write! (http://www.wordplace.com) It was designed by former Word Perfect owners/developers. It's basic in some areas. It won't do stuff like MS Word's grammar checking, but for pure word bashing and document handling, i.e. organising your chapters, stories, characters etc. it is unlivewithoutable. Good karma! Oh, and it produces clean HTML as its native format. Another Oh... and there's a free version too.

[Tiger]

Actually, it might be still the best if you just send the doc or rtf files. It would be much easier for authors too. Now I haven't been able to compile a list of allowed html tag because I still don't know what formats are adequate. Like I said, I will always try to use the simplest tags (I totally agree with Aurelius about MS version html). But I may use new tags when I need them. So, just give me the Word file and I will do the rest and you don't have to worry if any tag is acceptable.

For now, I am using DreamWeaver to convert doc files. But it seems can't recognize the font size. I am still looking for a better converter. If you know one, please contact me (webmaster@bdsmlibrary.com). Thanks.

[Aurelius]

Sorry Jinn. I didn't mean to pre-empt you. Though as the site now displays HTML I shall certainly be submitting in that format. I'm sure everyone agrees that the stories are so much nicer to read then monospaced text.

Actually, there is also a HTML export tool in MSWord (for 2000 at least) which reduced its file size by 45%, and yet it STILL contains some superfluous formatting.

Here's the link
http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/systems/downloads/msoffice.filter.html
It's a quick and easy install that anyone who needs to export to HTML should be using.

I'll keep a look out for more clean-up tools.

[Tiger]

No need to say sorry. I just don't want to force authors to learn a new language. They should focus on story writing and they can use MS Word or other programs they like, instead of learning what html tag is. Of course, if you know what you are doing, you can send your story in html format. I will really appreciate it.

I am using OfficeXP and comes with a filtered html option. But it still carries a lot useless tags (I will not edit these html file back in Word again, so I don't need those extra tags. And I don't want those CSS style either because I want to control it with my own. I am trying several programs and see which one can fit my need best.

[kittenfemme]

I've found the "Save as HTML" option in AppleWorks (http://www.apple.com/appleworks/) is very clean and works well. My only gripe is that it uses line breaks < br > as opposed to < p > paragraph tags... but that's a personal preference.

Of course, if you're not running a Macintosh the above tidbit doesn't do ya much good. :rolleyes:

I imagine OpenOffice (http://www.openoffice.org/) has a similar feature. However, I also imagine it's very much like MS Word's html exporter in that the code is messy and css formatted. I haven't tried it, but perhaps it is worth a look?

Though, because I tend to be such a control freak (imagine that, a Domme switch who is a control freak :D ), I'll be editing my submissions as I do my web pages, by hand.