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Font question.

D

drnosty

Virgin
Joined
Oct 24, 2018
Posts
4
Hello, All.

Forgive me if this question has been asked before, but I was looking for information on which font and what font size works best for stories submitted on this site? I realize all browsers put their own slant on fonts, and I'm assuming from past experience that Verdana would probably fare well, but I was hoping for a definitive answer both on font and size.

Thanks in advance for any and all input. Have a wonderful Fourth.
 
It doesn't matter. The Web site puts every story in its font and font size (Verdana, 9 point) regardless of what you submit. I don't know if the site let's the reader customize their individual font/font size, but it's posted in uniform font. The author doesn't control the delivered look.
 
Last edited:
KeithD said:
I don't know if the site let's the reader customize their individual font/font size, but it's posted in uniform font. The author doesn't control the delivered look.
Click to expand...

I don't know whether Literotica provides an option for readers to customise how the page appears, but this can be done through the browser settings. As you say, not something the author can control.
 
Bramblethorn said:
I don't know whether Literotica provides an option for readers to customise how the page appears, but this can be done through the browser settings. As you say, not something the author can control.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've made my own stylesheet that modifies the story pages so it's easier to read for me (center the content, justify the text, etc.). But that's all client-side indeed.

As far as I'm aware, the only formatting stuff you can include is bold, italic, underline, and possibly text alignment. Don't quote me on that, though, just listing the things I think I've seen before in stories I've read. Speaking of, is there a list somewhere of all the special formatting you can include in your story and how to do it? Will be submitting my first story soon and that will be very useful to have.
 
ThisNameIsntTakenYet said:
Yeah, I've made my own stylesheet that modifies the story pages so it's easier to read for me (center the content, justify the text, etc.). But that's all client-side indeed.

As far as I'm aware, the only formatting stuff you can include is bold, italic, underline, and possibly text alignment. Don't quote me on that, though, just listing the things I think I've seen before in stories I've read. Speaking of, is there a list somewhere of all the special formatting you can include in your story and how to do it? Will be submitting my first story soon and that will be very useful to have.
Click to expand...
It's straight html coding <i>italics</i> <b<bold</b> - but can be more problematic than it's worth.

I got clever for a while when I learned how to do some coding, but after it failed to convert for some reason (one chapter okay, the next not), and two spectacular cock ups in a row (which required story edits to fix), I stopped doing it. Plain text works best, is fool-proof (this fool got caught), and requires very little change to your writing style. My advice is don't bother, and remember, what you do doesn't flow through to every reading device anyway.

Focus on writing good words rather than futzing with presentation :).
 
electricblue66 said:
It's straight html coding <i>italics</i> <b<bold</b> - but can be more problematic than it's worth.
Click to expand...

If I recall correctly, one of the things that breaks coding is when a page break falls in the middle of coded text. For something like multi-paragraph italic text, I would recommend tagging each paragraph individually.
 
Bramblethorn said:
If I recall correctly, one of the things that breaks coding is when a page break falls in the middle of coded text. For something like multi-paragraph italic text, I would recommend tagging each paragraph individually.
Click to expand...
Yes, one of my cock-ups - caused by me not so cleverly using < text text text > to signify an email - lasted until the Lit page break and then reset itself. I'd inadvertently added html code that I knew nothing about. So I apply a print ready approach now - plain text for Lit where I have no control, and cleverness where the output is a pdf print file, where I can see exactly what I'm doing.
 
Bramblethorn said:
I don't know whether Literotica provides an option for readers to customise how the page appears, but this can be done through the browser settings. As you say, not something the author can control.
Click to expand...

I doubt Literotica ever will. What they allow is minimized for uniformity across the collection. This is standard anthology publishing practice--a standard reader view across the entire anthology. Fancy styling detracts from the read.
 
electricblue66 said:
It's straight html coding <i>italics</i> <b<bold</b> - but can be more problematic than it's worth.

I got clever for a while when I learned how to do some coding, but after it failed to convert for some reason (one chapter okay, the next not), and two spectacular cock ups in a row (which required story edits to fix), I stopped doing it. Plain text works best, is fool-proof (this fool got caught), and requires very little change to your writing style. My advice is don't bother, and remember, what you do doesn't flow through to every reading device anyway.

Focus on writing good words rather than futzing with presentation :).
Click to expand...

Oh I wasn't going to go overboard with it or anything. I just tend to put some words in italics for emphasis sometimes, and would like to have the common "* * *" that signals a break or shift of some sort centered. That was just about it, was mostly wondering how it would work. But I am very familiar with HTML, so that should all work out fine then.
 
ThisNameIsntTakenYet said:
"* * *" that signals a break or shift of some sort centered. That was just about it, was mostly wondering how it would work. But I am very familiar with HTML, so that should all work out fine then.
Click to expand...
Centring was one of the things that went spectacularly wrong for me. It was fine reading back on an android in normal view mode, but as soon as I went to " Reading View" every piece of text below the first section break disappeared. A complete fail.

What you see on your device is not always what the next reader sees on theirs. I don't bother with any formatting now, for Lit. Left justified plain text, that's it.
 
ThisNameIsntTakenYet said:
Oh I wasn't going to go overboard with it or anything. I just tend to put some words in italics for emphasis sometimes, and would like to have the common "* * *" that signals a break or shift of some sort centered. That was just about it, was mostly wondering how it would work. But I am very familiar with HTML, so that should all work out fine then.
Click to expand...

Italics is simple for a sentence or paragraph - just use <i>around the text </i>

*** can be problematic because some apps use that as an indicator of a forced page break. I use +++ instead that doesn't seem to cause problems.
 
oggbashan said:
Italics is simple for a sentence or paragraph - just use <i>around the text </i>

*** can be problematic because some apps use that as an indicator of a forced page break. I use +++ instead that doesn't seem to cause problems.
Click to expand...
Ahh, that might explain why my breaks went pear-shaped. I was centering *** so that could well have been a double cock-up.
 
ThisNameIsntTakenYet said:
Yeah, I've made my own stylesheet that modifies the story pages so it's easier to read for me (center the content, justify the text, etc.). But that's all client-side indeed.

As far as I'm aware, the only formatting stuff you can include is bold, italic, underline, and possibly text alignment. Don't quote me on that, though, just listing the things I think I've seen before in stories I've read. Speaking of, is there a list somewhere of all the special formatting you can include in your story and how to do it? Will be submitting my first story soon and that will be very useful to have.
Click to expand...

Yeah, why in the world the page is not centered? I've been wondering about that ever since I first discovered the site.

Also, is there a way to use special characters? I really dislike quotes for dialog, but I don't dare putting the « symbol, for fear that in some computers or browsers it's not read correctly. In HTML they are coded in a specific way. I wish that, upon submitting, a simple find and replace script could take care of that...
 
bushyTrail said:
Yeah, why in the world the page is not centered? I've been wondering about that ever since I first discovered the site.
Click to expand...

Why would it be? Left-justification is standard for prose fiction and most non-fic. Fancy publishers might justify left and right, but that requires fine-tuning spacing, which would over-complicate things here.

Also, is there a way to use special characters? I really dislike quotes for dialog, but I don't dare putting the « symbol, for fear that in some computers or browsers it's not read correctly. In HTML they are coded in a specific way. I wish that, upon submitting, a simple find and replace script could take care of that...
Click to expand...

You can include HTML in a submission. I just tested « and » in the preview and they seem to work OK. But in an English-language submission, usually better to stick with standard typography to avoid irritating readers.
 
Last edited:
Bramblethorn said:
Why would it be? Left-justification is standard for prose fiction and most non-fic. Fancy publishers might justify left and right, but that requires fine-tuning spacing, which would over-complicate things here.
Click to expand...

I'm referring to the layout of the web page. In my browser the stories occupy only the left half of the space, leaving the rest empty. I would prefer the text layer to be in the center (of course with left-justification.

Bramblethorn said:
You can include HTML in a submission. I just tested « and » in the preview and they seem to work OK. But in an English-language submission, usually better to stick with standard typography to avoid irritating readers.
Click to expand...

Oh. I weirdly hadn't thought of that! (usually escape characters are purged in websites) I'll write the script on my own then. Thanks!
 
bushyTrail said:
Yeah, why in the world the page is not centered? I've been wondering about that ever since I first discovered the site.

Also, is there a way to use special characters? I really dislike quotes for dialog, but I don't dare putting the « symbol, for fear that in some computers or browsers it's not read correctly. In HTML they are coded in a specific way. I wish that, upon submitting, a simple find and replace script could take care of that...
Click to expand...

I use ASCII codes, usually for French accents e.g. Alt key held down and followed by 130 = é

But they do not always work on some platforms.
 
bushyTrail said:
I'm referring to the layout of the web page. In my browser the stories occupy only the left half of the space, leaving the rest empty. I would prefer the text layer to be in the center (of course with left-justification.
Click to expand...

Oh, I get what you mean - thought we were still talking about text justification. I think it's because there is some content that appears to the right of the main story (tags, similar stories, etc.). But because that stuff all shows up right at the bottom, and some of it only on the very last page, it does lead to a lot of empty space on the right of the page.
 
bushyTrail said:
I'm referring to the layout of the web page. In my browser the stories occupy only the left half of the space, leaving the rest empty. I would prefer the text layer to be in the center (of course with left-justification.
Click to expand...

I would prefer that it stretch wider across the page. The HTML standard used to have a code segment to adjust to the viewer's screen width ( < width =90%> or something similar), but that code was deprecated in later HTML standards. The infestation of 'mobile friendly' coding has left those of us with real monitors behind to suffer with pages squeezed into a small portion of our screen width.
 
bushyTrail said:
I really dislike quotes for dialog...
Click to expand...
Ummm, quotes are the correct punctuation for dialogue.

If you write in English, there's a reasonable expectation from readers that you use correct punctuation, not make something of your own up.

That's like saying I don't like the letter a, how about this character instead? Or saying, I don't like the way "cheese" is spelt, how about we use "forzeltorch" instead. You can't go making stuff up. Well, you can, but it's unlikely to be published or read by many.
 
electricblue66 said:
Ummm, quotes are the correct punctuation for dialogue.

If you write in English, there's a reasonable expectation from readers that you use correct punctuation, not make something of your own up.

That's like saying I don't like the letter a, how about this character instead? Or saying, I don't like the way "cheese" is spelt, how about we use "forzeltorch" instead. You can't go making stuff up. Well, you can, but it's unlikely to be published or read by many.
Click to expand...

Oh, wait a sec! That's the point. I'm used to Italian fiction, that must be it! I just assumed punctuation for this was universal! Weird thing is, I've read plenty of books in English and never realized that the use of quotes was consistent. In my language, dialog can be introduced by plenty of characters («, -, "), so I thought I had a choice here too.

Thanks for clarifying that.
 
jaF0 said:
I would prefer that it stretch wider across the page. The HTML standard used to have a code segment to adjust to the viewer's screen width ( < width =90%> or something similar), but that code was deprecated in later HTML standards. The infestation of 'mobile friendly' coding has left those of us with real monitors behind to suffer with pages squeezed into a small portion of our screen width.
Click to expand...

No, it's never been deprecated. It's one of the ways you can specify lengths in CSS. But it's not a tag, it's an attribute (style). I have the feeling that Literotica made its choice for a reason. Maybe ads appear where we see a blank space? My browser is filled with privacy settings, so I don't have any way of knowing...
 
bushyTrail said:
Oh, wait a sec! That's the point. I'm used to Italian fiction, that must be it! I just assumed punctuation for this was universal! Weird thing is, I've read plenty of books in English and never realized that the use of quotes was consistent. In my language, dialog can be introduced by plenty of characters («, -, "), so I thought I had a choice here too.

Thanks for clarifying that.
Click to expand...
Ah, gotcha. You Italians and your pure romance language, up against English and its hybrid mix of multiple invasions, theft and bastardisation ;).
 
jaF0 said:
I would prefer that it stretch wider across the page. The HTML standard used to have a code segment to adjust to the viewer's screen width ( < width =90%> or something similar), but that code was deprecated in later HTML standards. The infestation of 'mobile friendly' coding has left those of us with real monitors behind to suffer with pages squeezed into a small portion of our screen width.
Click to expand...
My guess is the page dimensions come from the original coding, twenty years ago. Back then, monitors were a standard ratio, much the same as an old TV. Wide screen monitors are a more recent innovation, so the background code probably just expanded to fill the space, and it's never been changed.
 
electricblue66 said:
My guess is the page dimensions come from the original coding, twenty years ago. Back then, monitors were a standard ratio, much the same as an old TV. Wide screen monitors are a more recent innovation, so the background code probably just expanded to fill the space, and it's never been changed.
Click to expand...

Probably. I've looked at the HTML of several different parts of the site and it's all very old-fashioned. I'm talking structuring-everything-with-tables old. That said, it was very easy to fix the story page to make it easier to read for me. I have an addon for Chrome called User CSS that allows me to inject a custom stylesheet into webpages. I only had to add 4 new rules and everything just worked. If anyone is interested in my stylesheet, drop me a PM and I'd be happy to share it, but if you have some knowledge of CSS it's very easy to do yourself.

I've also made the forum pages centered and a fixed width instead of spanning the entire width of my relatively large screen, which also greatly improved readability. Except for the User Control Panel, which is still full-width and shows the subscribed threads and forum tables side by side now. Makes it much easier to see if there's anything new at a glance.
 
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