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SFReader Forums > Writing > Gripe! > people who use colored text when posting

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crystalwizard
Forum Moderator

Date Joined Nov 2006
Total Posts : 4748

Posted 5/10/2008 6:06 PM (GMT -4)

Okay, this is a general gripe.

Several people think it's cute (or something) to write in colors here. Unfortunately a lot of times those colors don't show up well (or at all) with the default theme and it's hard to read what was written... unless you highlight the text first and invert everything.

At other times they use the color code and they put [ then something like color= and then their text and end it with a ]

makes the text colored just fine AND MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE TO QUOTE!!!

when the quote post feature is used to make a reply, all that shows up is the [ then color= and the first word of what was written. To quote the text, you have to cancel the reply, go back to the post, copy all the text you want to quote to your clipboard and paste it into your reply.

It's a pain in the xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and I am frustrated enough with both problems that I finally had to say something.

darkbow
Rabbit lord

Date Joined Oct 2005
Total Posts : 1647

Posted 5/10/2008 6:19 PM (GMT -4)

It doesn't bug me as much, but yeah, the colored text and the answereing of quotes within the quotes does make things hard to read.

"Beneath a Persian Sun" upcoming in Carnivah House's "Infinity Swords" anthology

"The Death of Lester Williams" upcoming in Crimson Highway.

"Steven Spielberg and The Magic Box" upcoming at The Ranfurly Review.
"Peter Piker the Pankin Man" upcoming at Big Pulp

"The Note" at Every Day Fiction
"Zombie Tears" at Tales of the Zombie War.
"Walking Between the Rain" at Every Day Fiction
"Deep in the Land of the Ice and Snow" in "The Return of the Sword" anthology
"Hot Off the Press" Ray Gun Revival #25, 2007

www.tyjohnston.blogspot.com
http://radiodarkbow.blogspot.com Two songs a day, every day.

Lyn
Adopt

Date Joined Sep 2007
Total Posts : 1356

Posted 5/10/2008 10:22 PM (GMT -4)

I'm going to use red next time just to annoy you. lol

Lyn from ResAliens
Reviewing Zines at The Fix
Reviewing Short Stories at My Blog
And Promoting Strange Worlds of Lunacy

crystalwizard
Forum Moderator

Date Joined Nov 2006
Total Posts : 4748

Posted 5/10/2008 11:51 PM (GMT -4)

Lyn said...
I'm going to use red next time just to annoy you. lol

I'm going to mail you a hamburger ;)

Jaqhama
Adventurer

Date Joined Oct 2007
Total Posts : 467

Posted 5/11/2008 3:33 AM (GMT -4)

Ah...I'm afraid you've lost me CW...I clicked on a quote that contained Alex's font in black, mine in red and Jason's in blue and it came out exactly the same as we'd written it??? No problems reading it?

Red and blue should show up perfectly on the standard white default background?

I'm using the red background, much less glare than the white one.

I think it's ok answering an original question within a quote box if one uses red or blue and bolds the font???

I agree it's difficult if the answers are the same size and color as the questions.

I have a feeling I'm missing something here or I've not encountered the problems you have when quoting colored font?

You can read some of my stories here:

Skulkers. Jack be nimble, Jack be quick. RAT's. La Carcajou. Jet Bike Boogie...at www.pulpanddagger.com

Swamp Story. Down South. Florida Haze.Wild Justice...

at www.bikernet.com (Plus many of my motorcycle related articles.)

The Covert OP. Chick Prick...at www.milstory.com

von Darkmoor
Small Press Publisher (and Dancer still)

Date Joined Dec 2005
Total Posts : 2992

Posted 5/11/2008 3:37 AM (GMT -4)

Geesh! For an editor who doesn't really have a whole lot of requirements you sure are nit-picking . . . .

Jaqhama
Adventurer

Date Joined Oct 2007
Total Posts : 467

Posted 5/11/2008 7:48 AM (GMT -4)

von Darkmoor said...
Geesh! For an editor who doesn't really have a whole lot of requirements you sure are nit-picking . . . .

I assume you like sleeping outside with the labrador?

You can read some of my stories here:

Skulkers. Jack be nimble, Jack be quick. RAT's. La Carcajou. Jet Bike Boogie...at www.pulpanddagger.com

Swamp Story. Down South. Florida Haze.Wild Justice...

at www.bikernet.com (Plus many of my motorcycle related articles.)

The Covert OP. Chick Prick...at www.milstory.com

crystalwizard
Forum Moderator

Date Joined Nov 2006
Total Posts : 4748

Posted 5/11/2008 12:49 PM (GMT -4)

Jaqhama said...
Red and blue should show up perfectly on the standard white default background?

Ah but Red and Blue aren't the only colors some of our members like to use, Kevin.

Jaqhama said...

I]

There are two different problems:

1. the tendency for some people to use colors other than red and blue which do not show up at all well on the default white background.

2. The problem with putting text inside the color tag.

Here's a screen capture of exactly how your sentence that you colored red shows up when I quote it. Notice that it does NOT show up in my reply

cyberwizardproductions.googlepages.com/quoted.jpg

RHFay
Sage

Date Joined Nov 2007
Total Posts : 1722

Posted 5/11/2008 8:43 PM (GMT -4)

What's your problem? What's wrong with coloured text? Do you have something against colours? Do you have a problem with people expressing themselves in an artistic manner, utilizing colours to emphasize their mood? Are you anti-colour or something?

All hail the mighty magic rainbow!

(Where's indigo?)

Actually, I do have trouble reading coloured text on the screen. Certain colours, like yellow, don't work at all for text.

Didn't know about the other problems with using colours in posts. That's enlightening.

"I'm going to do what the warriors of old did. I'm going to recite poetry!"

Richard H. Fay - Azure Lion Productions

http://azurelionproductions.com

Jaqhama
Adventurer

Date Joined Oct 2007
Total Posts : 467

Posted 5/12/2008 1:05 AM (GMT -4)

RHFay said...

All hail the mighty magic rainbow!

(Where's indigo?)

Actually, I do have trouble reading coloured text on the screen. Certain colours, like yellow, don't work at all for text.

Didn't know about the other problems with using colours in posts. That's enlightening.

Indeed...I'm writing this here to see what happens...it seems to be working Ok???

I just cannot change the italic print to normal print.

I still don't get why CW can't use a quote box with colored text in it?

I'm not having any problem quoting a colored text box as you can see???

You can read some of my stories here:

Skulkers. Jack be nimble, Jack be quick. RAT's. La Carcajou. Jet Bike Boogie...at www.pulpanddagger.com

Swamp Story. Down South. Florida Haze.Wild Justice...

at www.bikernet.com (Plus many of my motorcycle related articles.)

The Covert OP. Chick Prick...at www.milstory.com

crystalwizard
Forum Moderator

Date Joined Nov 2006
Total Posts : 4748

Posted 5/12/2008 2:21 AM (GMT -4)

Jaqhama said...

I still don't get why CW can't use a quote box with colored text in it?

I think you are completley missing my point, kevin.

Look at the quote of your text in this reply. You'll see that your colored text vanishes when I quote it. If you look at the screen shot I provided you'll see what the problem is.

Jaqhama
Adventurer

Date Joined Oct 2007
Total Posts : 467

Posted 5/12/2008 5:20 AM (GMT -4)

But why doesn't the colored text vanish when I quote someone???

You can read some of my stories here:

Skulkers. Jack be nimble, Jack be quick. RAT's. La Carcajou. Jet Bike Boogie...at www.pulpanddagger.com

Swamp Story. Down South. Florida Haze.Wild Justice...

at www.bikernet.com (Plus many of my motorcycle related articles.)

The Covert OP. Chick Prick...at www.milstory.com

DAWaverly
Quirky Weirdness

Date Joined Jul 2006
Total Posts : 259

Posted 5/12/2008 9:02 AM (GMT -4)

Jaqhama said...

RHFay said...

What's wrong with coloured text? Do you have a problem with people expressing themselves in an artistic manner, utilizing colours to emphasize their mood?

All hail mighty rainbow!

Actually, I do have trouble reading coloured text on the screen. Certain colours, like yellow, don't work at all for text.

Indeed...I'm writing this here to see what happens...it seems to be working Ok???

I just cannot change the italic print to normal print.

I still don't get why CW can't use a quote box with colored text in it?

Above is what happens when I quote with colors, Jaq. Things vanish. However...
I see it as a problem/bug with the software that bundles the quote, not with the person expressing themselves with color.
What I am seeing where your line "I'm not having any problem"... is a mix-mash of forum mCode and HTML. During quoting mCode attempts to recognize legit HTML and use it.
Characters clash and the mCode interpreter gets confused. In order to show what I mean I will have to replace the mCode characters "[" and "]" with "{" and "}" and the HTML characters "<" and ">" with ":" and ";" (otherwise they would just be interpreted instead of being displayed as characters)
{color=red;:b;I'm}{/color}{/quote}

The HTML bold command and the word "I'm" have been captured as part of the mCode {color=} command. I see this when I quote RHFay's multi-colored post as well. My guess is that the color command is causing the mCode quote tool to burp...
Why it burps for some and not others is a question left to those who wrote this mCode interpretor to begin with...

- Deven
Blogtide Rising

published
"The Journey" at Every Day Fiction

forthcoming
"An Awakening of Shadows" in The Infinity Swords anthology from Carnivah House
"All That Glitters" at Every Day Fiction arriving 30 May 2008.

Jaqhama
Adventurer

Date Joined Oct 2007
Total Posts : 467

Posted 5/12/2008 11:59 AM (GMT -4)

Ah...I was beginning to suspect that it was working ok for me but not for CW.

Nodding wisely here.

It's better to be born lucky than good.

You can read some of my stories here:

Skulkers. Jack be nimble, Jack be quick. RAT's. La Carcajou. Jet Bike Boogie...at www.pulpanddagger.com

Swamp Story. Down South. Florida Haze.Wild Justice...

at www.bikernet.com (Plus many of my motorcycle related articles.)

The Covert OP. Chick Prick...at www.milstory.com

crystalwizard
Forum Moderator

Date Joined Nov 2006
Total Posts : 4748

Posted 5/12/2008 12:00 PM (GMT -4)

Okay, I edited your post, Kevin, to see what the code looks like, and I took a screenshot of it. Then I quoted it for this reply. Take a look at the crystalwizard321.googlepages.com/colorexample.jpg screen shot of the code and then look at the quote below. You'll see that sometimes the FONT tag is used and sometimes the text is just attached to the color tag like this:

color=red I don't understand

You'll also see that sometimes the text is repeated after the color tag, and sometimes it's not. When it is, it shows up in my quote. When it's not, it vanishes.

I have no idea if Richard or you wrote the text in the original post like that or not, but this is how the forum editor is seeing things and why stuff is vanishing for some of us. There's obviously a bug in the editor, or people who copy and paste wouldn't frequently show up with smily faces all over their post where the control characters should be.

The main point is, that for those of us where the text does vanish, it's highly annoying.

Jaqhama said...

Never meddle in the affairs of a wizard unless you are soggy and hard to light!

Managing Editor of Flashing Swords

Visit my art gallery on art wanted
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MysticWino
anarchist fringe monkey boddhisatva

Date Joined May 2007
Total Posts : 1632

Posted 5/12/2008 1:00 PM (GMT -4)

Well POOT! All ya had ta do was PM me . . .

Read me in The Return of the Sword!
Blog: http://bitterhermit.wordpress.com
Buy wine: http://fringemonkey.org
Poetry Blog: http://fringemonkey.wordpress.com

"The schizophrenic is drowning in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight." --Joseph Campbell

crystalwizard
Forum Moderator

Date Joined Nov 2006
Total Posts : 4748

Posted 5/12/2008 1:58 PM (GMT -4)

MysticWino said...
Well POOT! All ya had ta do was PM me . . .

You're not the only one that does it though.

MysticWino
anarchist fringe monkey boddhisatva

Date Joined May 2007
Total Posts : 1632

Posted 5/12/2008 3:44 PM (GMT -4)

I realize .. . . .was joking

Read me in The Return of the Sword!
Blog: http://bitterhermit.wordpress.com
Buy wine: http://fringemonkey.org
Poetry Blog: http://fringemonkey.wordpress.com

"The schizophrenic is drowning in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight." --Joseph Campbell

PaulMc
Adept

Date Joined May 2005
Total Posts : 992

Posted 5/12/2008 4:08 PM (GMT -4)

crystalwizard said...
Okay, this is a general gripe.

Several people think it's cute (or something) to write in colors here. Unfortunately a lot of times those colors don't show up well (or at all) with the default theme and it's hard to read what was written... unless you highlight the text first and invert everything.

At other times they use the color code and they put [ then something like color= and then their text and end it with a ]

makes the text colored just fine AND MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE TO QUOTE!!!

when the quote post feature is used to make a reply, all that shows up is the [ then color= and the first word of what was written. To quote the text, you have to cancel the reply, go back to the post, copy all the text you want to quote to your clipboard and paste it into your reply.

The websites I most want to shoot are any site that features flashing red. Have they not seen Andromeda Strain? Do they not know that flashing red can induce fits in epileptics?

That was one of the first things I was ever taught in computer graphics. But, no one needs a class now to perform pretty pictures on screen - though some should be required (just look at some MySpace pages that are out of control ... *shudder*)

-- Paul McNamee

My Writings

RHFay
Sage

Date Joined Nov 2007
Total Posts : 1722

Posted 5/12/2008 5:34 PM (GMT -4)

I dislike the sites, usually horror ones, that use a fairly dark-coloured text on a black background. It's hard to read under the best of conditions, and if you get some glare from sunlight or lamplight, forget it!

"I'm going to do what the warriors of old did. I'm going to recite poetry!"

Richard H. Fay - Azure Lion Productions

http://azurelionproductions.com

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