Italics Question

[trngpet77]

I want to put part of my story dialog in italics. Does Literotica allow the use of italics in stories. If so, how do you italicize text. I've tried without success.

 

[KeithD]

I want to put part of my story dialog in italics. Does Literotica allow the use of italics in stories. If so, how do you italicize text. I've tried without success.

You can code it manually. <i>text you want</i>

 

[lovinanalandy]

Thanks

I appreciate it, Keith! I just happened to be submitting my first story in two years today, and I’d totally forgotten how to code italics.

 

[Drkman]

Thanks for the refresh, I too forgot how to code italics. Now I can submit other stories.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I've included italics, underlined and bold text when submitting using MSWord with no issues or code needed.

 

[KeithD]

I've included italics, underlined and bold text when submitting using MSWord with no issues or code needed.

Interesting. Can you provide a Lit. story cite where you didn't manually code for these yourself? (What need did you have for underlining? That's from the typewriter era. It doesn't really have a purpose in publishing in the computer era.) What method did you use to submit not to need to manually code for italics?

 

[Rob_Royale]

Surely. This is a story I did to resemble a blog entry.

This section that is the blogger in first person is in italics. The rest of it is a transcript of an audio recording and it's in standard text.
https://literotica.com/s/finding-scarlett
I don't do anything special. I submit the Word document. No copy/pasting. The use of italics, bold and underlined have been flawless.
I use underlining very occasionally to add a small amount of emphasis to a particular word.

 

[KeithD]

Surely. This is a story I did to resemble a blog entry.

This section that is the blogger in first person is in italics. The rest of it is a transcript of an audio recording and it's in standard text.
https://literotica.com/s/finding-scarlett
I don't do anything special. I submit the Word document. No copy/pasting. The use of italics, bold and underlined have been flawless.
I use underlining very occasionally to add a small amount of emphasis to a particular word.

I only use copy/pasting in the dialogue box. For that you have to manually code. Good to know that there's some other way to submit that doesn't require the manual coding.

Emphasis in publishing is denoted by italics (Chicago Manual of Style 16, 7.47). Underlining was only ever used because typewriters couldn't do italics. Some technical manuals use underlining, but they don't know much about publishing. Fiction doesn't use it.

 

[AlinaX]

Be minimal with italics, not least because it can get screwed up by Lit. If manually coding with tags, don't cross paragraphs with a single tag section.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Underlining was only ever used because typewriters couldn't do italics. Some technical manuals use underlining, but they don't know much about publishing. Fiction doesn't use it.

Good info. I'm fairly new to writing and didn't know that. I've made a couple of corrections to my current WIP. Thanks.

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

Good info. I'm fairly new to writing and didn't know that. I've made a couple of corrections to my current WIP. Thanks.

I'd like to point out that those technical manuals are for print-media only. They completely ignore the basics of web publication.

Using <u> to underline text has, in web publications, the very same purpose as italics created with <i>, and bold text created with <b>; they're visual styles used to make it easier for the reader to understand the structure of your text. There are, however, also the semantic alternatives in web-publishing, that are indications of how something is to be understood.

<em> (emphasize) will be displayed like <i> in a browser, but if someone using a screen reader comes across your story that usitilizes it, the computer voice can actually emphasize that text by reading it a little slower, while it would simply ignore the <i>-tag.
For example, you can use <i> to style the remote voice of a phone conversation, so the readers have a sense of it being a remote voice. But if you use <em> for that because it looks the same, screen readers will take some time to get through this.

<strong> (strongly emphasize) will be displayed like <b> in a browser, but screen readers can read it in a lower voice, while it would simply ignore the <b>-tag.
For example, you can use <b> to style the text of a letter your character is reading, but it you use <strong> for that because it looks the same, screen readers would make it harder to understand for the user.

 

[KeithD]

Not sure you can do all of that at Literotica and have it accepted/turn out the way you want it.

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

Not sure you can do all of that at Literotica and have it accepted/turn out the way you want it.

Not entirely sure who you're responsing to, but if it's me:

Lit's own Publishing Guide tells people to use <em> and <strong> instead of <i> and <b>, sadly without bothering to tell people what the difference is.

 

[KeithD]

Not entirely sure who you're responsing to, but if it's me:

Lit's own Publishing Guide tells people to use <em> and <strong> instead of <i> and <b>, sadly without bothering to tell people what the difference is.

That doesn't mean Literotica accepts those codes for this purpose. Does it? That was my point. Just because the codes exist doesn't mean they are used here.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I compose in MS Word, then copy and paste to the website. The following codes are accepted by Literotica in that context. Whether or not one wishes to use them is up to each writer, their call.

Centered on page <center></center>

Bold <b></b>, but Laurel prefers <strong></strong>

Italics <i></i>, but Laurel prefers <em></em>

Underlined <u></u>

I myself have noticed no difference in screen appearance between <b and <strong or between <i and <em. YMMV.

If you want multiple paragraphs italicized or centered or bolded, you need to put the tags at the beginning and end of each paragraph you want formatted as such.

It is also important to enter 'in' and 'out' tags in order. In other words, if you want a centred, italicized paragraph, put the italicize tags at the beginning and end of the paragraph and only then put in the center tags, like BA text AB. Getting the order mixed (say, BA text BA) up can result in published errors.

If you want to make single line spaces within a formatted paragraph, use the <br> tag.

There may indeed be others.

 

[KeithD]

Thanks. That would be useful as a sticky posting at the top of the AH.

 

[Rob_Royale]

If you use the upload feature, none of that is necessary. Why bother?

 

[KeithD]

If you use the upload feature, none of that is necessary. Why bother?

Because I've never had a problem with the cut/paste submissions?

 

[32aa]

Italics <i></i>, but Laurel prefers <em></em>

So, to manually code is it like this?

<i> italic word</>

 

[TarnishedPenny]

<i>italic word</i> but the word can be a sentence or even a full paragraph.

But, as I said, Laurel prefers em vs i

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

So, to manually code is it like this?

<i> italic word</>

Yes. Please ignore what Laurel "prefers". There's a reason why <em> was implemented in ADDITION to <i>, instead of replacing it. And it was not backwards compatibility. Use the two when it makes sense.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Yes. Please ignore what Laurel "prefers". There's a reason why <em> was implemented in ADDITION to <i>, instead of replacing it. And it was not backwards compatibility. Use the two when it makes sense.

I think you'll find that Laurel is the one who does the format setups for this site, and it's probably a good idea to follow her preferences. You're in no position to tell anyone to ignore her preferences - she's the site editor ffs.

 

[ElectricBlue]

If you use the upload feature, none of that is necessary. Why bother?

Because uploaded files can, and very often do, go badly wrong. You might be lucky yours go through okay, but there's plenty of folk asking this on a regular basis, which says uploads are not always foolproof.

I've got more than a million words on this site, and all of my "cocked up format" stories were uploads. After I while I got sick of it, and now I always use the text box to Preview my stories, and I've never had a problem since.

Use what works, that's why bother.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Use what works, that's why bother.

Gotcha. I'd no idea. I've done 11 stories now with the download feature with no issues.

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

I think you'll find that Laurel is the one who does the format setups for this site, and it's probably a good idea to follow her preferences. You're in no position to tell anyone to ignore her preferences - she's the site editor ffs.

I think you'll find that Laurel has created an entire page dedicated to that topic, and it clearly states that <i> and <em> are equally valid and can both be used. And it also clearly states they "prefer" <em>, but using <i> is perfectly fine. Since they don't state any reason for WHY they would prefer <em> over <i>, you should use them as they are intended to be used - Lit doesn't stipulate either ffs.