poetry format on other websites

[wildsweetone]

i wrote a eulogy (for another friend who passed on recently) and tried posting it into the Funeral Director's Guestbook on their website.

when i previewed the poem it contained perfect formatting.

when i double checked after posting, the poem had posted in one lumpy paragraph. (never more have i realised just how important line breaks are!).

is there anything i can do with formatting 'codes' to correct the problem?

is there a standard set of codes that can be used all over the 'net?

or is my only option to rely on the Funeral Directors ability to correct the problem at their end?

 

[Tzara]

i wrote a eulogy (for another friend who passed on recently) and tried posting it into the Funeral Director's Guestbook on their website.

when i previewed the poem it contained perfect formatting.

when i double checked after posting, the poem had posted in one lumpy paragraph. (never more have i realised just how important line breaks are!).

is there anything i can do with formatting 'codes' to correct the problem?

is there a standard set of codes that can be used all over the 'net?

or is my only option to rely on the Funeral Directors ability to correct the problem at their end?

It's not a simple question, WSO. It depends on whether the site previews text in the same font and size that it will be displayed. Probably they won't. (It sounds as though the site you're talking about doesn't.)

For example, here at Lit if you look very carefully at your preview mode and try to align things as you might want, you'll likely end up being disappointed. I don't know that they change the font between preview and publish (I think they do, but I haven't double-checked that), but I know they change the size. Which screws up your formatting.

Your post, though, implies that the site screwed up the line breaks. That, for a site printing poetry, sounds very weird. Indentation is by far more the common problem.

 

[wildsweetone]

It's not a simple question, WSO. It depends on whether the site previews text in the same font and size that it will be displayed. Probably they won't. (It sounds as though the site you're talking about doesn't.)

For example, here at Lit if you look very carefully at your preview mode and try to align things as you might want, you'll likely end up being disappointed. I don't know that they change the font between preview and publish (I think they do, but I haven't double-checked that), but I know they change the size. Which screws up your formatting.

Your post, though, implies that the site screwed up the line breaks. That, for a site printing poetry, sounds very weird. Indentation is by far more the common problem.

i must have mis-said something.

the site isn't geared to poetry, it's geared to people posting things to the deceased and the deceased's family. just a simple 'Guestbook' page.

but the poem did show in the preview, correct.

do you know is there any 'standard formatting code' that i can use to force line breaks?

(to tell the truth it was a bit of a shock to see a poem mangled by simply removing the line breaks. normally it's me that does that, not a website. )

 

[Tzara]

i must have mis-said something.

the site isn't geared to poetry, it's geared to people posting things to the deceased and the deceased's family. just a simple 'Guestbook' page.

but the poem did show in the preview, correct.

do you know is there any 'standard formatting code' that i can use to force line breaks?

(to tell the truth it was a bit of a shock to see a poem mangled by simply removing the line breaks. normally it's me that does that, not a website. )

If it removed the line breaks and they did not appear in the posted text, then however the site is converting it, it isn't paying attention to lines.

Kind of like Lit's new comment format.

If (if) the site allows you to embed HTML code, you might be able to force a break by entering a line break tag (something like <br> or <br />) immediately following the point at which you want to break the line. My guess is, though, that this would just insert those characters in your text, which would foul it up even worse, like this:

I think that I shall never see<br />A poem lovely as a tree.<br /><br />A tree whose hungry mouth is prest<br /> & c.

Your best bet may be to remove what you've written to this point and recast it as prose poem.

Just a guess. Good luck.

 

[wildsweetone]

If it removed the line breaks and they did not appear in the posted text, then however the site is converting it, it isn't paying attention to lines.

Kind of like Lit's new comment format.

If (if) the site allows you to embed HTML code, you might be able to force a break by entering a line break tag (something like <br> or <br />) immediately following the point at which you want to break the line. My guess is, though, that this would just insert those characters in your text, which would foul it up even worse, like this:

I think that I shall never see<br />A poem lovely as a tree.<br /><br />A tree whose hungry mouth is prest<br /> & c.

Your best bet may be to remove what you've written to this point and recast it as prose poem.

Just a guess. Good luck.

thanks dear.

 

[wildsweetone]

Tzara, just to let you know, i emailed the Funeral Director because i tried, but could not fix the line breaks from my end. i awoke this morning to three emails from various addresses, all keeping me in the loop as to how they were working on the problem. it has been fixed and it was good to deal with people who went the extra step for me. it's also good to see a poem presented as it was intended.

so, thanks for your help. and Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

 

[Angeline]

Tzara, just to let you know, i emailed the Funeral Director because i tried, but could not fix the line breaks from my end. i awoke this morning to three emails from various addresses, all keeping me in the loop as to how they were working on the problem. it has been fixed and it was good to deal with people who went the extra step for me. it's also good to see a poem presented as it was intended.

so, thanks for your help. and Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

WSO, I was just reading online and found this essay. It made me think of Rybka and of you. I thought you might want to see it.

One quote from the essay really struck me:

For the poems not to be failures, and what is lost to be recovered, the distance between words and reality would have to disappear. The distance between different words themselves would have to disappear. There would only be one single word -- and this word would be indistinguishable from everything in the world and indistiguishable from ourselves.

I read that and thought to myself, "well that's an easy one. The word is love.

 

[Tzara]

Tzara, just to let you know, i emailed the Funeral Director because i tried, but could not fix the line breaks from my end. i awoke this morning to three emails from various addresses, all keeping me in the loop as to how they were working on the problem. it has been fixed and it was good to deal with people who went the extra step for me. it's also good to see a poem presented as it was intended.

so, thanks for your help. and Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Well, I don't think I much helped, but I am glad your problem was resolved.

Happy Thursday to you and yours as well.

What's that? That was yesterday?

I don't understand this global thing, I guess. So, Happy Yesterday. Day. Day.