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Coloured text

darloboy641 ๐Ÿšซ

New work bubbling and I am thinking of using a red font colour for a 4 letter word, not a swear or crudity, that pops up a few times in the text. I can't find it FAQ and I am guessing the site won't use it. Any clues please?

Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

@darloboy641

The solution is the {red}{/red} tag.

https://storiesonline.net/doc/Text_Formatting_Information_Guide#tags

darloboy641 ๐Ÿšซ

OK thanks, will see if I can master it

Ross at Play ๐Ÿšซ

Your post does beg the question, Why?
It sounds like a gimmick. You have a problem in your words if italics, bold, capitals and quote marks are not adequate to tell your story.
My advice is simple - Don't! Use words!
If a word needs some special interpretation in your story, then provide an adequate definition or description for it, within the story, the first time it is used.

Replies:   Switch Blayde
Switch Blayde ๐Ÿšซ

@Ross at Play

Your post does beg the question, Why?

I don't think I'd do it, but think of stories/movies like "You Got Mail." A lot of it is messaging back and forth. I guess you could use different colors for the sender and receiver's messages.

Replies:   Ross at Play
Ross at Play ๐Ÿšซ

@Switch Blayde

I did qualify my comment with "sounds like" a gimmick.
The short version of my post readers will ask why the author needed a new font.
If the answer is not obvious they may conclude the author did not know how to tell their story using words.
I can see the temptation to "assist" readers, but in general I would say authors should assume readers are competent at interpreting words, and they should concentrate on being competent in their writing.

Ross at Play ๐Ÿšซ

What about readers who are blind and use software to read text to them?

Switch Blayde ๐Ÿšซ

@Ross at Play

What about readers who are blind and use software to read text to them?

I guess they're listeners and not readers. (sorry, couldn't resist). But you have a point.

Speaking of audio, how is italics handled?

Ross at Play ๐Ÿšซ

@Switch Blayde

Software packages usually has options for what will be identified or not, but you may assume many listeners will not hear italics, bold, or capitals.
So choose your words carefully. ;)

Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

@Switch Blayde

Speaking of audio, how is italics handled?

For screen readers, italics are not distinguished from non-italics. That's why the < em> and < strong> tags are used.

< em> for Emphasize and < strong> for strong emphasis. The pronunciation of emphasized text is different.

Although, long emphasized passages are highly annoying to listen to. So < em> and < strong> should be used very sparingly and only when absolutely necessary.

Switch Blayde ๐Ÿšซ

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

That's why the < em> and < strong> tags are used.

em for italics and strong for bold??

Ross at Play ๐Ÿšซ
Updated:

@Lazeez Jiddan (Webmaster)

That's why the < em> and < strong> tags are used.

But are writers using them?

Should writers currently using < i> and < b> change over so those using screen readers can hear correctly?

Switch Blayde ๐Ÿšซ
Updated:

@Ross at Play

Should writers currently using < i> and < b> change over so those using screen readers can hear correctly?

I used the "Edit Book" feature in Calbre to see how it converted my docx file. It used < i > for italics

Vincent Berg ๐Ÿšซ
Updated:

@Ross at Play

Some may be using older screen readers. I'm fairly sure most treat < i> the same as < em>..

Replies:   Ross at Play
Ross at Play ๐Ÿšซ

@Vincent Berg

The space in < i> is only to prevent the characters from disappearing when the post is displayed.
is a command
< i> are just random characters

Replies:   Switch Blayde
Switch Blayde ๐Ÿšซ
Updated:

@Ross at Play

The space in < i> is only to prevent the characters from disappearing when the post is displayed.

will this work?

NOPE

I used (without the dash) &-lt; but it converted that to a < and then used it as an HTML code

On wattpad, when I do that it displays the < but doesn't use it so it shows. Oh well.

Replies:   Vincent Berg
Vincent Berg ๐Ÿšซ

@Switch Blayde

I used (without the dash) &-lt; but it converted that to a < and then used it as an HTML code

That used to work on SOL (I didn't use it but noted when others did).

Vincent Berg ๐Ÿšซ

@Switch Blayde

Speaking of audio, how is italics handled?

It says: italic. The blind are used to these types of formatting. However, for those who post in HTML, you can use < abbr=""> to explain what the blind can't see (such as describing buttons).

Vincent Berg ๐Ÿšซ

@Ross at Play

What about readers who are blind and use software to read text to them?

As I keep reminding Ernest, red is the most common color blindness, so many readers may never see your 'essential' formatting.

Replies:   Ernest Bywater
Ernest Bywater ๐Ÿšซ

@Vincent Berg

As I keep reminding Ernest, red is the most common color blindness, so many readers may never see your 'essential' formatting.

I use red only for the chapter headings, and then it's because SoL already uses green for other things and they only allow for red, green, and blue. Most of my colour coding is in blue.

REP ๐Ÿšซ

As CW pointed out to me, people with color blindness cannot see certain colors and red is one of the ones most people with color blindness issues have the most problem seeing.

Using color, any color but black, will result in some of your readers not being able to see the words.

darloboy641 ๐Ÿšซ

OK will revert to black as normal and thanks. Just asking.

Replies:   Ross at Play
Ross at Play ๐Ÿšซ

@darloboy641

Just asking

Sure. All's well that ends well.
I would not want to discourage you, and approve of a willingness to experiment - just with something else. ;)

Ross at Play ๐Ÿšซ

em tag strong tag
This is a test, just to see what the 'em' and 'strong' tags look like.

Ernest Bywater ๐Ÿšซ

@darloboy641

I regularly use colour in my stories, mostly for headings and notes. I recently did an article on using html for WPLC (covers all three sites) and it's now has a link on the SoL Author / Editor page as a Resource.

https://storiesonline.net/article/Text-formatting-guide-for-WLPC-Sites

Although I probably should update it for the use of em and strong since I didn't include them at the time because I didn't really understand what they did.

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