Format preference

[togitc]

I submited a couple of stories last night and for the first time I actually saw and read what it said about format. Don't get me wrong, I make sure I see what I am doing, most of the time, but for once I took time to see more than the acceptable formats.

It says something along the lines of doc and rtf can't be scanned by the machines so someone actually has to take a look at them. So it takes longer for it to post. That I understand here is the point.

For the longest time I have been working in the doc format and I love it. I really don't mind waiting a couple extra days for something to post. I have had a bad time with txt format and I think that it is an eyesore. Could I just cut and paste into a text file? Sure, but where's the fun in that?

In other words, do you have a format/habit in writing that you can't/don't want to kick?

 

[cantdog]

I miss indented paragraphs, man. I read lots of books. Books always have indents.

Web realities mean that you do paragraphs as I am doing them for this post. I understand that. I do. But for me, it looks wrong, it seems artificial. I miss indents.

 

[Weird Harold]

It says something along the lines of doc and rtf can't be scanned by the machines so someone actually has to take a look at them. So it takes longer for it to post. That I understand here is the point.

For the longest time I have been working in the doc format and I love it. I really don't mind waiting a couple extra days for something to post. I have had a bad time with txt format and I think that it is an eyesore. Could I just cut and paste into a text file? Sure, but where's the fun in that?

In other words, do you have a format/habit in writing that you can't/don't want to kick?

I write and edit almost exclusively in MS Word 97 because I like the reviewing and editing tools.

However, I use a template specificly set up to minimize problems when stories are converted to HTML or TXT format for submitting to Lit. When I'm redy to submit a story, I do the conversion to TXT format myself rather than rely on Laurel to do the conversion to TXT that has to be done by someone before the story can be posted at Lit.

That's really the crux of the matter -- who is going to convert your story to TXT, not whether it is going to be converted to TXT format or not. Because of Lit's standardized formatting, every story gets converted to HTML which is an ASCII Text based format.

While I prefer the capabilities of a full feature word processer -- i.e. MSWord, WordPerfect, etc -- for wrting and editing, I prefer to do the necessary TXT conversion myself so that I maintian control over how my story looks within the limits of HTML and Lit's standard look and feel.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I have my own standard format I use in Word, and I'm in the habit of double spacing all my paragraphs. I save them all as .docs and either upload them to Lit or cut-&-paste. I've never had much trouble to speak of with either method. I don't think I've ever submitted a txt or rtf file here.

I've had some trouble with italics and underlining. I always have to go look up the HTML code for them.

On the other hand, I gave up trying to post poetry to Lit because I just can't get it to look right on the screen. Layout in HTML is an absolute nightmare.