em dash

[JayPierce95]

When I use an em dash "—" in a Docx file, upon submitting it to Literotica, it changes it to a hyphen "-" and that changes the meaning of the mark. So, right now I'm using two hyphens "--" which doesn't look as good.

Has anyone else had this problem or know a workaround?

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I copy and paste my stories into the Lit text box and the size of dashes is preserved.

 

[JayPierce95]

Thank you. You're right. The only problem then is that formatting, such as bold and italics, don't seem to show

 

[Bramblethorn]

Thank you. You're right. The only problem then is that formatting, such as bold and italics, don't seem to show

If you're doing it this way, you need to add <b>bold</b> and <i>italic</i> tags before you post. If you've only got a few you can add them by hand, or you can automate it with search and replace as described in #15 here: https://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=1283568

 

[jaF0]

Less is more.

I rarely see a need a for font or formatting tricks. Let your story do the work. Italics, Bold and odd characters may have their place in other places, but they don't really do anything for stories here in my opinion.

That said, there was a discussion not too long about spacers between sections that aren't really either paragraphs or chapters. Things like Tildes and Asterisks, or combinations thereof were mentioned.

 

[RejectReality]

The route I use is to do a find/replace in the finished Lit draft. I replace all my em dashes with the ascii character code.

—

 

[Haulover]

If you're doing it this way, you need to add <b>bold</b> and <i>italic</i> tags before you post.
...

Just remember - special formatting does NOT show on the LIT phone app, where a significant percentage of our readers access out stories.

Less is more.

I rarely see a need a for font or formatting tricks. Let your story do the work. Italics, Bold and odd characters may have their place in other places, but they don't really do anything for stories here in my opinion.
...

^^^ This

 

[SyleusSnow]

I've only posted one story as a Word upload. I really don't like being unable to preview before submitting, and the extra time it takes for approval.

I've found a slightly better way... recently wrote about it on my blog.

tl;dr: Use textfixer to convert MS Word into clean, simple HTML that preserves italics, bold and em dashes, then paste that into the Lit story submission window:

https://www.textfixer.com/html/convert-word-to-html.php

 

[KeithD]

I cut and paste my stories from Word and the em dashes hold.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Just remember - special formatting does NOT show on the LIT phone app, where a significant percentage of our readers access out stories.

I've heard this claim before, but I don't think I've never seen a cite for that "significant percentage". What kind of numbers are we talking about?

If the app doesn't support standard text formatting, the problem is not the formatting but the app. If somebody told me that 65% of Literotica readers choose to view stories on a potato, I would be sad for their bad choices but it wouldn't motivate me to make my stories potato-compatible.

Italics are a handy way for communicating shades of meaning. Yes, you can write stories without them, just like you can make enjoyable music on a GameBoy, but not every story is a chiptune.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I've only posted one story as a Word upload. I really don't like being unable to preview before submitting, and the extra time it takes for approval.

I've found a slightly better way... recently wrote about it on my blog.

tl;dr: Use textfixer to convert MS Word into clean, simple HTML that preserves italics, bold and em dashes, then paste that into the Lit story submission window:

https://www.textfixer.com/html/convert-word-to-html.php

Oh nice. I'd been looking for something like that!

 

[SyleusSnow]

Oh nice. I'd been looking for something like that!

I haven't found anything better.

This tool is especially nice since it does everything in the browser... so it's fast, and nothing gets sent to their server to be tracked/scooped up by the thought police.

 

[JayPierce95]

The route I use is to do a find/replace in the finished Lit draft. I replace all my em dashes with the ascii character code.

—

Thank you! I'm following this advice.

 

[Haulover]

...
It's getting a bit old, to bring this up every time formatting is mentioned.

Last time I raised this was about 2 years ago

New members on the AH - and several of the older ones - will not have seen that message.

I've heard this claim before, but I don't think I've never seen a cite for that "significant percentage". What kind of numbers are we talking about?
...

Manu mentioned this in a post many years ago. He did not specify - and I immediately contacted him to ask for numbers. No response. I've asked twice since then, still no response. (Not sure I expected a response, but it would have been nice.)

 

[RejectReality]

Last time I raised this was about 2 years ago

New members on the AH - and several of the older ones - will not have seen that message.



Manu mentioned this in a post many years ago. He did not specify - and I immediately contacted him to ask for numbers. No response. I've asked twice since then, still no response. (Not sure I expected a response, but it would have been nice.)

It's not that difficult to determine that it's highly unlikely to be in widespread use. It's not an approved app, and therefore not available from official apps stores. That means it's going to give you scary malware warnings every step along the way as you try to download and install it. Most devices are also set up by default to not allow installation of unapproved apps, so you also have to mess with your settings. If you ignore all the warnings and jump through the hoops, you get an experience that is inferior to the mobile version of the website in almost every way.

That is not a recipe for widespread adoption.

 

[GinnyPPC]

Is this app just an Apple app? I don't see a Literotica app in the Google Play store. And I sometimes read the site on my phone and all the formatting is there. I am using the beta pages so maybe the problem was just with the old pages? Or am I missing something. I am somewhat new to the site.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

Going from what may be obsolete advice in the FAQs, I send doc rather than docx. It may help to save-as to doc. Also, I get em-dashes from the Insert/Symbol dropdown, and I add a mention of this in the Notes during submittal.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Manu mentioned this in a post many years ago. He did not specify - and I immediately contacted him to ask for numbers. No response. I've asked twice since then, still no response. (Not sure I expected a response, but it would have been nice.)

Even if it was true then, I'd be reluctant to assume it's true now, for the reasons RejectReality gave.

Is this app just an Apple app? I don't see a Literotica app in the Google Play store. And I sometimes read the site on my phone and all the formatting is there. I am using the beta pages so maybe the problem was just with the old pages? Or am I missing something. I am somewhat new to the site.

There's an Android app, but not available in the Google Play store. You have to go through some extra hoops to install it: https://literotica.com/android/

But, yes, you can just point your phone's browser to the Literotica website and view stories that way instead.

 

[RejectReality]

Manu said a significant portion of the traffic was coming in through mobile devices.

That does not mean the app.

The continued development of mobile friendly websites is making this kind of app obsolete anyway. They're going the way of the dodo. Google's overwhelming control means everyone has to adapt to their definition of what's mobile friendly. There's no real reason for a site like this to have an app that basically displays the website when the mobile version of the site does it just as well or better. ( especially when such an app will never be officially sanctioned by our technological overlords )

 

[Haulover]

...
But, yes, you can just point your phone's browser to the Literotica website and view stories that way instead.

True - but I believe the downside is that when reading a long story, you lose your place if you stop reading and pick it up at a later time. That's one of the (few) things the app does better than the web site.

Manu said a significant portion of the traffic was coming in through mobile devices.

That does not mean the app.

The continued development of mobile friendly websites is making this kind of app obsolete anyway. They're going the way of the dodo. Google's overwhelming control means everyone has to adapt to their definition of what's mobile friendly. There's no real reason for a site like this to have an app that basically displays the website when the mobile version of the site does it just as well or better. ( especially when such an app will never be officially sanctioned by our technological overlords )

That (the bold text above) is an interesting comment, and I'd be interested to learn where that's being reported.

I have seen the opposite in both - my private and professional experiences.

"Responsive" web sites are old news, though I agree that they're improving all the time. But I'm not sure I'd agree that they're causing dedicated apps to lose popularity.

 

[RejectReality]

I'm talking about apps that have as their only purpose to present the website in a manner that's tuned to mobile devices. They're dying off because they're a time sink. The effort is better spent on tuning the mobile presentation of the website, because Google is demanding it to remain in their good graces anyway.

Most places that are still pushing dedicated apps that only do this do it for one reason, and one reason only — ad blockers. It's nowhere near as easy for someone to block ads in an app as it is in a browser. It's worth it to them to try to suck people into the app to drown them in the ads they would have never seen on the website.

True - but I believe the downside is that when reading a long story, you lose your place if you stop reading and pick it up at a later time. That's one of the (few) things the app does better than the web site.



That (the bold text above) is an interesting comment, and I'd be interested to learn where that's being reported.

I have seen the opposite in both - my private and professional experiences.

"Responsive" web sites are old news, though I agree that they're improving all the time. But I'm not sure I'd agree that they're causing dedicated apps to lose popularity.

 

[AngstIgnored]

If I'm reading the above correctly, the LIT app does not show italics or bold correctly. Is that true?

 

[Bramblethorn]

If I'm reading the above correctly, the LIT app does not show italics or bold correctly. Is that true?

Apparently so. But I'd be surprised if more than 1% of readers are using that app.

 

[NotWise]

Thank you. You're right. The only problem then is that formatting, such as bold and italics, don't seem to show

I had the problem with the em dash when I saved a story as an ascii text file and uploaded it. The em dash doesn't exist in ascii (nor does the en dash), so they're converted to hyphens. If that's what you did, then it wasn't the site that did the conversion. You did it.

If you want to preserve bold and italics, then you need to add the html code for the formatting. Otherwise, you can upload an rtf or docx file, but those files may take longer to process.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

The route I use is to do a find/replace in the finished Lit draft. I replace all my em dashes with the ascii character code.

—

Thanks for that!