Section breaks and display glitches

[TheExperimentalist]

I know this title looks more like it belongs in the tech support section, but bear with me.

I have a draft that's nearly ready to go. The story occurs in segments, with large time skips noted by a section break. The breaks are pretty significant to the flow of the story. Normally, I would use the horizontal rule (<hr> for those who write their own html tags into raw text the way I do, which is one of the few tags that Lit supports.)

However, lately I've noticed (and I saw someone mention it on another thread too, though now I can't seem to find it) that for some reason, the horizontal rules vanish when navigating multi-page stories. I'm not trying to fix or report the issue, I'm trying to think of a way that, even if the built-in <hr> isn't showing properly, my story still has visible, easily understood breaks.

I have a few ideas for how to work around the display glitch, but was wondering what people think:
1. Use something like four dashes or four plus signs or whatever instead. It'll look a little less nice, but it won't rely on special formatting.
2. Use <hr> AND a line of four dashes, so that if the formatting works, it looks intentional... but perhaps this would just look even messier.
3. Just use <hr> and hope people either figure it out or the site fixes the glitch soon.
4. Some other idea I haven't thought of.

Thanks.

 

[cw5523729]

Pretty sure this is the one you're looking for

https://forum.literotica.com/threads/another-new-bug.1645759/

 

[TheExperimentalist]

Pretty sure this is the one you're looking for

https://forum.literotica.com/threads/another-new-bug.1645759/

God dammit. I swear I try to check for equivalent threads before starting my own. Thanks, and I'm sorry. Do you know if there's a way for an OP to close a thread, or can only mods do that?

 

[YmaOHyd]

Only mods. The best you can do, I think, is edit the post (and maybe the title).

 

[old_prof]

I know this title looks more like it belongs in the tech support section, but bear with me.

I have a draft that's nearly ready to go. The story occurs in segments, with large time skips noted by a section break. The breaks are pretty significant to the flow of the story. Normally, I would use the horizontal rule (<hr> for those who write their own html tags into raw text the way I do, which is one of the few tags that Lit supports.)

However, lately I've noticed (and I saw someone mention it on another thread too, though now I can't seem to find it) that for some reason, the horizontal rules vanish when navigating multi-page stories. I'm not trying to fix or report the issue, I'm trying to think of a way that, even if the built-in <hr> isn't showing properly, my story still has visible, easily understood breaks.

I have a few ideas for how to work around the display glitch, but was wondering what people think:
1. Use something like four dashes or four plus signs or whatever instead. It'll look a little less nice, but it won't rely on special formatting.
2. Use <hr> AND a line of four dashes, so that if the formatting works, it looks intentional... but perhaps this would just look even messier.
3. Just use <hr> and hope people either figure it out or the site fixes the glitch soon.
4. Some other idea I haven't thought of.

Thanks.

I was the one who started the thread about the missing section breaks (although @onehitwanda brought it to my attention in yet another thread).

I was using a series of +'s all centered. I have changed that story to drop the centering.

I was suggest something like 5-8 dashes, letting them be left justified if you want the effect or <hr> without risking the bug.

 

[cw5523729]

Only mods. The best you can do, I think, is edit the post (and maybe the title).

@kreemi_pi has a thread with the title "THREAD DELETED" that is currently on post 3,637 (page 146) as of right this second and still growing non-stop

 

[TheExperimentalist]

or <hr> without risking the bug.

Right, so I was saying that I use <hr> and there's a bug with those too. Sometimes they just vanish. Other times they're fine. (I actually did notice at least a partial pattern to this one, which I can elaborate on elsewhere, but it's not really my question.)

If I submit with some alternate formatting workaround, then whenever it does get fixed, my story won't be the way I want, though I guess I could go request an edit at that point. I do just really like the look of the <hr> tag... when it works.

 

[TheExperimentalist]

@kreemi_pi has a thread with the title "THREAD DELETED" that is currently on post 3,637 (page 146) as of right this second and still growing non-stop

Got it. Bad idea.

 

[old_prof]

Right, so I was saying that I use <hr> and there's a bug with those too. Sometimes they just vanish. Other times they're fine. (I actually did notice at least a partial pattern to this one, which I can elaborate on elsewhere, but it's not really my question.)

If I submit with some alternate formatting workaround, then whenever it does get fixed, my story won't be the way I want, though I guess I could go request an edit at that point. I do just really like the look of the <hr> tag... when it works.

Same way for me with the center tag. But displaying at all is so much more important than being centered, I will live with it.

 

[YmaOHyd]

Right, so I was saying that I use <hr> and there's a bug with those too. Sometimes they just vanish. Other times they're fine. (I actually did notice at least a partial pattern to this one, which I can elaborate on elsewhere, but it's not really my question.)

Damn, I didn't notice that <hr> wasn't working. I only use them for fore- and afterwords, so I don't have many, but I do have one (out of like twelve total across all my stories) missing.

 

[WaxPhilosophic]

I've always used three asterisks, centered. I found out recently it's called a "dinkus". No kidding. So every time I use it, I snicker as I mutter, "dinkus."

 

[old_prof]

I've always used three asterisks, centered. I found out recently it's called a "dinkus". No kidding. So every time I use it, I snicker as I mutter, "dinkus."

Damn! I had been trying to remember that word this whole discussion (in the Another New Bug thread)

 

[onehitwanda]

Soapbox: Lit should plug in a markdown engine and stop trying to roll its own. At least then we'd have some guarantees of deterministic behaviour.

 

[ElectricBlue]

1. Use something like four dashes or four plus signs or whatever instead. It'll look a little less nice, but it won't rely on special formatting.

Given the current glitchiness, that's what I'd do:

*****

Keep it really simple. Plus, it's quick and easy to type. Seeing all this html code, I'm thinking, bloody hell, that's a whole lot of bother

*****

when something simple serves exactly the same purpose. Provided readers get it, I don't see the point of all the formatting, and I doubt readers care that much. It's definitely an authors' thing, this one.

 

[TheExperimentalist]

displaying at all is so much more important than being centered, I will live with it.

Good point. I just wonder if, once the glitch is fixed, they'll be annoyed by me requesting a story edit to reset the formatting to what I ACTUALLY want it to be.

Or perhaps I should just stick with the simple formatting so that if this happens again in the future it doesn't gut my stories... Just that would be a shame, because I have a couple of WIPs that heavily involve electronic communications and I did some really cool stuff with the formatting, even despite the limited options.

 

[TheLobster]

Soapbox: Lit should plug in a markdown engine and stop trying to roll its own. At least then we'd have some guarantees of deterministic behaviour.

Shh, don't mention Markdown. You'll get scolded for bringing up some fancy shmancy newfangled fads that surely have no hope of catching on.

At least that's what happened to me when I did that -- in 2024.

 

[TheExperimentalist]

It's definitely an authors' thing, this one.

For the most part, I'd agree. Still, there's something satisfying about looking at your story and feeling like it looks polished visually, as well as linguistically.

 

[TheLobster]

4. Some other idea I haven't thought of.

Split the story into multiple submissions? Depends on how long the parts would be, of course.

 

[old_prof]

Good point. I just wonder if, once the glitch is fixed, they'll be annoyed by me requesting a story edit to reset the formatting to what I ACTUALLY want it to be.

Or perhaps I should just stick with the simple formatting so that if this happens again in the future it doesn't gut my stories... Just that would be a shame, because I have a couple of WIPs that heavily involve electronic communications and I did some really cool stuff with the formatting, even despite the limited options.

I'm trying to decide with my WIP, assuming they get this fixed before I submit them. It's a hard call of the risk vs the reward.

 

[TheExperimentalist]

Split the story into multiple submissions? Depends on how long the parts would be, of course.

Nah, we're talking segments a few paragraphs long. Short incident happens in the morning. Break. Character contemplates it that evening. Break. Two days later, they have another significant interaction. Break. That sort of thing.

 

[TheLobster]

Nah, we're talking segments a few paragraphs long. Short incident happens in the morning. Break. Character contemplates it that evening. Break. Two days later, they have another significant interaction. Break. That sort of thing.

You definitely don't want risking those breaks then. I'd go with what ElectricBlue suggests for now, until the bug gets fixed.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Sorry, I can't relate to these issues.

I always write in MS Word and upload my files rather than using the submission field. I have never had an issue with any of the supported format items transferring over from the way they appear in Word.

My latest story published earlier this week and everything looks just as intended.

 

[Writer61]

I write in Word, but Lit does not understand its horizontal rule. My alternative is to use a single, centred, tilde.

 

[TheExperimentalist]

You definitely don't want risking those breaks then. I'd go with what ElectricBlue suggests for now, until the bug gets fixed.

Yeah, exactly. Guess that's what I'll do for now, unless it's fixed before I'm ready to submit (probably Sunday when I have time to finish a final review)... in which case, @iwatchus and I are both aboard the good ship HMS Dilemma.

 

[ElectricBlue]

For the most part, I'd agree. Still, there's something satisfying about looking at your story and feeling like it looks polished visually, as well as linguistically.

I'm going through a bunch of five year old stories at the moment, tidying them up for another platform. They're littered with html for italics that never rendered, a few attempts at bold Chapter Titles that remain plain text. Not a single comment from readers. I can't be arsed to make the effort, not any more, although I will occasionally use italics to render a foreign language phrase. But that's pretty much it.

These days, when I try to use the paperclip button at the top of this post, the system won't let me. Don't know whether that's the Forum glitching or my device not keeping current (which has happened before), so I've learned not to get excited about written stuff that goes wrong - when usually it was my fault in the first place.