Posting problems

[Jeremydcp]

When I upload my stories to Literotica, the text is all jumbled and a complete mess
when it gets processed by the website. I am using a simple text editor and uploading
in the *.TXT format. What do other authors here use to create and save their work
that is also friendly with the website? I want to be able to use a word processor -
any, really - and simply upload my story and not worry about it being all wrong.

Thank you for your time.

** As an example, I will copy and paste what I typed out above, and show you
what it may look like when I upload it to the website. --->


When I upload my stories to Literotica, the text is
all jumbled and a complete mess when it gets processed by the
website. I am using a simple
text editor and uploading in the *.TXT format. What do other
authors here use to create and save their work
that is also friendly with the website? I want to be able to use a word processor -
any, really - and simply upload
my story and not worry about it being all wrong.

Thank you for your time.

(And please help!)

 

[Bramblethorn]

When I upload my stories to Literotica, the text is all jumbled and a complete mess
when it gets processed by the website. I am using a simple text editor and uploading
in the *.TXT format. What do other authors here use to create and save their work
that is also friendly with the website? I want to be able to use a word processor -
any, really - and simply upload my story and not worry about it being all wrong.

Thank you for your time.

** As an example, I will copy and paste what I typed out above, and show you
what it may look like when I upload it to the website. --->


When I upload my stories to Literotica, the text is
all jumbled and a complete mess when it gets processed by the
website. I am using a simple
text editor and uploading in the *.TXT format. What do other
authors here use to create and save their work
that is also friendly with the website? I want to be able to use a word processor -
any, really - and simply upload
my story and not worry about it being all wrong.

Thank you for your time.

(And please help!)

It looks to me like you're hitting Return/Enter at the end of each line, or you're using a text editor that's inserting carriage returns for you. That might look OK when you're composing, but it doesn't translate well when it displays on a website that may have a different page width.

Only use carriage returns when you need to force a new line (e.g. at the end of a paragraph). Otherwise, let the site and people's web browsers figure out where to wrap each line.

If your text editor is inserting carriage returns for you, you'll need to figure out how to disable that (or switch editors). Any good editor and most of the bad ones will have some sort of "display formatting" option. Carriage returns will probably display as a pilcrow (¶) - get rid of any that appear in the middle of a paragraph.

 

[Jeremydcp]

Which text editor would you suggest? I do not need a fancy or expensive word processor, but
will take one if necessary.

Thank you!

It looks to me like you're hitting Return/Enter at the end of each line, or you're using a text editor that's inserting carriage returns for you. That might look OK when you're composing, but it doesn't translate well when it displays on a website that may have a different page width.

Only use carriage returns when you need to force a new line (e.g. at the end of a paragraph). Otherwise, let the site and people's web browsers figure out where to wrap each line.

If your text editor is inserting carriage returns for you, you'll need to figure out how to disable that (or switch editors). Any good editor and most of the bad ones will have some sort of "display formatting" option. Carriage returns will probably display as a pilcrow (¶) - get rid of any that appear in the middle of a paragraph.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Which text editor would you suggest? I do not need a fancy or expensive word processor, but
will take one if necessary.

Thank you!

I hear good things about LibreOffice, which is free and available for the major OSes. By default it saves in OpenDocument format but Save As should give you the option of text. There are probably simpler programs around that will do what you need, but I don't have experience with them - anybody else have a recommendation?

 

[NaokoSmith]

Hullo my dear, welcome to the board.


Are you putting your story in the submission box, or uploading it as a text file? Usually if you put it in the submission box, you get to see what it will look like on the Preview function, and then you can go back and strip out any problems. E.g., I often forget to put </b> after putting in <b>, and then the whole story appears emboldened.

Tips for newbie:
Keep your feet in the boat if the trolls are posting - the wildlife on here is really fascinating, especially when it starts fighting among itself, but it's advisable to just sit well back on the sidelines and watch, while passing the popcorn to the left, until you have figured out the rules of combat (ie none at all, LOL).

If you post a serious question like yours, tho, you will get really helpful answers.

You do not have to put up pix of yourself naked, whatever they say. There is another place for doing that, I believe.

 

[MichaelinChina]

Hullo my dear, welcome to the board.


Are you putting your story in the submission box, or uploading it as a text file? Usually if you put it in the submission box, you get to see what it will look like on the Preview function, and then you can go back and strip out any problems. E.g., I often forget to put </b> after putting in <b>, and then the whole story appears emboldened.

Tips for newbie:
Keep your feet in the boat if the trolls are posting - the wildlife on here is really fascinating, especially when it starts fighting among itself, but it's advisable to just sit well back on the sidelines and watch, while passing the popcorn to the left, until you have figured out the rules of combat (ie none at all, LOL).

If you post a serious question like yours, tho, you will get really helpful answers.

You do not have to put up pix of yourself naked, whatever they say. There is another place for doing that, I believe.

Gee, you give good advice! I'm listening too!

 

[NaokoSmith]

Gee, you give good advice! I'm listening too!

Honey, what you don't know about the place where they post ... interesting pix would fill a small thimble .

I am going to hang my laundry and mark some more assignments now.

 

[Privates1stClass]

I'll second Bramblethorn's opinion. I've used LibreOffice for several years and it fits my needs perfectly. It does just about everything that Microsoft Office does, but it's free. I can swap files with friends if I save them in Word/Excel format.

You have a couple of choices when posting a story. 1.) Save your file in a .txt format (that is, without any fancy formatting, italics, bolding, justification, etc.) and cut the text with Ctrl-C and paste it into the Literotica submission block with a Ctrl-V. 2.) Save your file in a Microsoft Word format (perhaps Word 2003 or 2007) and upload your file in that format.

It takes longer to get your story posted with choice #2 because the folks at Literotica have to cut and paste your story for you.

Good luck in posting your story.

 

[oggbashan]

I write in compatible Word 97-2003, then copy and paste.

I rarely have problems except with some carriage returns for the end of paragraphs. But I only use carriage returns AT the end of paragraphs.

If saving as .txt, do NOT accept 'preserve line breaks'.

 

[Jeremydcp]

I hear good things about LibreOffice, which is free and available for the major OSes. By default it saves in OpenDocument format but Save As should give you the option of text. There are probably simpler programs around that will do what you need, but I don't have experience with them - anybody else have a recommendation?

I downloaded LibreOffice and gave it a try. I saved as *.TXT and tried uploading to Literotica, and had the same problem. Apparently the carriage returns are still there. Is there any way in LibreOffice to get rid of pre-existing carriage returns?

I have used a little text editor for years called ConTEXT and never had any problems with it until I tried posting my work on this website.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I downloaded LibreOffice and gave it a try. I saved as *.TXT and tried uploading to Literotica, and had the same problem. Apparently the carriage returns are still there. Is there any way in LibreOffice to get rid of pre-existing carriage returns?

I have used a little text editor for years called ConTEXT and never had any problems with it until I tried posting my work on this website.

Yes. Find the paragraph mark on the toolbar and click it. The text will then have all punctuation and spacing shown. Then you can go through and delete the extraneous carriage returns.

Question: What do you mean upload?

Do you copy and paste the text into the submission box or are you actually trying to upload by attaching the document to the submission?

If you already have it as text, just copy and paste the story into the submission box. Then when you press the preview button you get immediate feed back.

You should type your story as you do a post here. Keep typing until you come to a paragraph break then hit return, twice.

To put a space between paragraphs.

 

[Jeremydcp]

I use copy/paste ... I upload my work as a file... I get the same result.

I will try what you said with LibreOffice.

Yes. Find the paragraph mark on the toolbar and click it. The text will then have all punctuation and spacing shown. Then you can go through and delete the extraneous carriage returns.

Question: What do you mean upload?

Do you copy and paste the text into the submission box or are you actually trying to upload by attaching the document to the submission?

If you already have it as text, just copy and paste the story into the submission box. Then when you press the preview button you get immediate feed back.

You should type your story as you do a post here. Keep typing until you come to a paragraph break then hit return, twice.

To put a space between paragraphs.

 

[Jeremydcp]

Is there a way to save a *.TXT without the carriage returns included in LibreOffice?

Yes. Find the paragraph mark on the toolbar and click it. The text will then have all punctuation and spacing shown. Then you can go through and delete the extraneous carriage returns.

Question: What do you mean upload?

Do you copy and paste the text into the submission box or are you actually trying to upload by attaching the document to the submission?

If you already have it as text, just copy and paste the story into the submission box. Then when you press the preview button you get immediate feed back.

You should type your story as you do a post here. Keep typing until you come to a paragraph break then hit return, twice.

To put a space between paragraphs.

 

[sr71plt]

Simple cut and paste into the submissions box has worked for me nearly 680 times. I have to code italics myself, but that's it.

 

[PennLady]

I write in Word, and when I'm ready to submit a story, I just copy and paste from the file I'm working on. I don't need to save as .txt or anything else before that (I do, but I do it for other sites I post on).

Perhaps in LibreOffice you could work in .doc or .rtf, and copy and paste from there when you're ready. I've never had a problem doing this that didn't trace back to something I'd done, and generally haven't had problems at all.

Like sr71 said, the only thing I need to do is enter html coding, which is usually just the tags for italics.

 

[glynndah]

I use OpenOffice {or whatever it's called now} and save as whatever the default setting is. I've had no trouble copying and pasting the body of the document into the submission form. I'll agree about adding the codes for italics.

 

[TxRad]

In LibreOffice, save as .txt without line breaks.

It will paste correctly.

I do it this way on several other sites and this one.

 

[PennLady]

In LibreOffice, save as .txt without line breaks.

It will paste correctly.

I do it this way on several other sites and this one.

But you don't need to do that, do you? I don't save as text and then copy/paste from the text file. I make a .doc or .docx file and just copy/paste from that.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I downloaded LibreOffice and gave it a try. I saved as *.TXT and tried uploading to Literotica, and had the same problem. Apparently the carriage returns are still there. Is there any way in LibreOffice to get rid of pre-existing carriage returns?

I have used a little text editor for years called ConTEXT and never had any problems with it until I tried posting my work on this website.

Just to clarify - are you pasting text from somewhere else into LibreOffice first? If it already had carriage returns and you paste it into LO, it'll still have those returns.

If so, do like Zeb suggests. Look for a "display formatting" option which may be a ¶. Click that to display hidden formatting. Then look for unwanted ¶s and delete them.

 

[TxRad]

Just to clarify - are you pasting text from somewhere else into LibreOffice first? If it already had carriage returns and you paste it into LO, it'll still have those returns.

If so, do like Zeb suggests. Look for a "display formatting" option which may be a ¶. Click that to display hidden formatting. Then look for unwanted ¶s and delete them.

That is why I said to save it as .txt without line breaks. That makes sure nothing gets carried over.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

In Libre Office...

Make sure your paragraph format is set up as is shown above.

You can save the document in any format you wish, it doesn't have to be a plain text format. You would copy all the text in the doc and paste it into the submission form. This is how I have done it, this is how most authors here at Lit do it, since forever.

 

[Weird Harold]

That is why I said to save it as .txt without line breaks. That makes sure nothing gets carried over.

I downloaded LibreOffice 4.2.4.2 and the free version does NOT give the option of saving without line breaks.

However, for the OP, all is not lost:

First: Press Ctrl-F10 to turn on hidden character display'

Second: Go through your document and place two "Shift-Enter" manual line feeds wherever you want a paragraph break to occur.

Third: Press Ctrl-H to get the find & replace dialog.

Search for $
Replace with <space> (that's a single space character, not the literal "<space>")
click "other options" and check the box for "regular expressions"

Click find to confirm it is finding the paragraph breaks and "replace all" to convert all paragraph breaks to spaces.

Save As "text" (.txt) and confirm you are going to lose formatting.

Re-open the file you just saved and the manual line-breaks should be converted to paired paragraph breaks.

C&P or upload you file and your formatting problem should be fixed

 

[PennLady]

Why is it necessary to save as text? I'm just asking, because I never do for Lit. I just copy right out of my .doc(x) file. I do save to text, but for other sites.

I only work in Word, so maybe you need to do it to get rid of codes and such from other word processors, but I'm really curious. It seems like a needless step.

 

[TxRad]

Why is it necessary to save as text? I'm just asking, because I never do for Lit. I just copy right out of my .doc(x) file. I do save to text, but for other sites.

I only work in Word, so maybe you need to do it to get rid of codes and such from other word processors, but I'm really curious. It seems like a needless step.

Because he probably copied it into Libre from his original text and carried the line breaks with it.

 

[Weird Harold]

Why is it necessary to save as text? I'm just asking, because I never do for Lit. I just copy right out of my .doc(x) file. I do save to text, but for other sites.

That's correct, save to text format to strip out and other codes and special characters.