Computer Help Needed

[Londonboy]

My MAC died, trying to save some stuff, but it doesn't look good. I'm trying to post a second chapter to "Crossing Over" put with this computer (PC) it keeps posting everything in dark letters. What am I doing wrong. Is there a way to fix this? Any help is greatly appreciated. Sorry to be so stupid when it comes to things like this. Please try to explain it in a way that someone like me will understand. Thanks in advance! I think it has something to do with when I transfer the story from my thumb drive to the forum - but that's just a guess.

[rextorres]

[COLOR="yellow"]Londonboy,

Click on Quick reply button and then on Advanced button to post a new message. Then, paste the text in the textbox, and select the text color button. Set the text color to white or yellow, one of the lighter colors, then post it.

Highlight all the text and then set the color.

That should work!

Rex[/COLOR]

[Londonboy]

Thanks so much Rex. That will help me a lot.

[rextorres]

[COLOR="Yellow"]Hope you can get it to work...[/COLOR]

[musclemike05]

I think if you paste it directly from Word or similar, it has lots of formatting built in that you can't get rid of. Try pasting it first into Notepad program (Start-Programs-Accessories) to strip all formatting, and then into the MGS text box. You may have to re-enter spaces between paragraphs.

Nothing should delay these instalments ;-)

MM

PS - I recommend to anyone using Firefox to use the Readability Add-in. It's really great way of stripping away all formatting and leaving a very, er, readable page.

[Londonboy]

Thanks so much, man, for these great tips.

[nypup2train]

I know I'm crazy-late to this party, but I wanted to chime in anyway. Because it seems like discussion on this site keeps going 'round and 'round on a couple of these issues, and to be honest I'm more than a little confused why. So I've just sorta taken it upon myself to try and push towards a better understanding both of how the posting system actually functions (and what we can and cannot do), and also the various issues within the collective user base that inform how things should best be done.

Originally Posted by musclemike05

I think if you paste it directly from Word or similar, it has lots of formatting built in that you can't get rid of.

This is something I've read over and over again on this site, from many people. It's become "conventional wisdom", but all the same I question its accuracy.

Yes, when you paste in formatted text from various other applications, much of the formatting often comes along with it. And, yes, that's problematic because the formatting, while fine in the source application, can often have wildly different results when applied here. More often than not, it's detrimental, and worst-case leaves the resulting content offensive to even look upon.

But, here's the thing. That first icon in the far upper-left extreme of the post edit interface? The one that looks like a double-stack of italic, underlined capital A's with a red X over it? That's the "Remove Text Formatting" button. (I'm just gonna call it "RTF".) And I can say, having just done some experimentation with it, that not only is it useful for exactly its stated purpose, but I actually found myself surprised by how effective it seems to be!

I don't have a Windows installation with a copy of Word available to me, so I can't make specific assertions about that setup. And OpenOffice Writer on Linux is nice enough not to carry over formatting, when cutting-and-pasting from it. But spreadsheet cells from OpenOffice Calc don't get scrubbed quite so clean in transit, and RTF stripped out all the cruft. I also manually added font, color, size, and other formatting changes to blocks of text. All of those vanished when I clicked on RTF.

So, here's my suggestion. Next time, when posting from an application like Word, skip all of the complicated gyrations. Try this simple formula:

1. Copy the text to be posted from wherever you've written it
2. Paste it into an edit box here on the site
3. Select-all (Ctrl-A or however) inside that edit box
4. Click the Remove Text Formatting icon

...and, that's it. Based on my testing, what you should be left with is the text of your post, all of the formatting gone. Meaning the site will use its defaults as appropriate for any given situation, which is infinitely preferable to trying to apply some supposed "good" formatting. (More on that in a bit.)

If you intended your post to include any italics, bold, or similar "rich" formatting, it'll also be gone and you'll have to reapply it. That's a bit of a bummer, admittedly. But I'd argue that it's probably less of a chore to cherry-pick just those intended customizations and reapply them, rather than trying to "reverse" the copious unwanted formatting applied by software like Word.

Originally Posted by rextorres

Click on Quick reply button and then on Advanced button to post a new message. Then, paste the text in the textbox, and select the text color button. Set the text color to white or yellow, one of the lighter colors, then post it.

Highlight all the text and then set the color.

Please, please, please don't follow rextorres' advice. No offense, rext -- it's just that, well, for one thing plenty of us use the blue template to view the site, instead of the default (dark) template. In that view, not only is your yellow text completely unreadable, but it's not completely baseless to say that it's kind of painful to look at. It literally makes my eyes hurt.

Anyway, I'd love it if someone/everyone who actually has this issue could try what I've suggested. If you find it doesn't work out well, or honestly if anything at all bugs you, please report back. I'm honestly even more interested to hear about anything I have wrong, than if it's right.

[rextorres]

Whatever works best for you!