# .txt vs download



## Rilvor (May 26, 2008)

I just recently started working a new story, one I actually like enough to submit and keep working on. To get to the point here, what is the general opinion on reading a .txt file on the submission versus downloading it? I'm pretty frustrated at the fact FA does not support quotation marks, which makes speaking harder than necessary to recognize. The thing is though, do people want to have to download a file in order for it to be easier to read?


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## Aurali (May 26, 2008)

It's not really FA that makes the error, I do believe FA saves the data correctly, but the browser itself stares at this quote, and goes, "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SYMBOL??!?!?" So it writes the question mark :3

Your using non standard punctuation on a standard html code.. it don't add up in the end.

NEVER copy and paste directly from something like MS word.   convert the text into plain txt, then C/P.


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## Rilvor (May 26, 2008)

Eli said:


> It's not really FA that makes the error, I do believe FA saves the data correctly, but the browser itself stares at this quote, and goes, "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SYMBOL??!?!?" So it writes the question mark :3
> 
> Your using non standard punctuation on a standard html code.. it don't add up in the end.
> 
> NEVER copy and paste directly from something like MS word.   convert the text into plain txt, then C/P.



I actually typed it up in Open Office and saved it as a .txt


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## TopazThunder (May 26, 2008)

I prefer it to be in .txt format, that way you don't have to download it. But if the story is rather long or worth reading, I have no problem in downloading it instead. The whole quotation marks not translating into the submission is one reason why I haven't already submitted stories of my own; I've been trying to find out a better way to submit but I haven't found any yet. I'm not really an authority on it though.


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## M. LeRenard (May 26, 2008)

> I actually typed it up in Open Office and saved it as a .txt


Really?  Because that's what I usually do, and (save a lack of indentation) it always turns out fine.  In any case, I think this topic has been discussed quite a bit in this thread.
As for the original question, if it's an author I don't know who's work I haven't read but for some reason decided to click on, I tend to skip it if it's not .txt format and thus instantly readable.  I usually don't feel like waiting for my slow computer to open up OpenOffice or Word to download a file just so I can read the first sentence, go "this sucks" and then close the window.  Because that's usually what happens, sadly.


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## Rilvor (May 26, 2008)

M. Le Renard said:


> Really?  Because that's what I usually do, and (save a lack of indentation) it always turns out fine.  In any case, I think this topic has been discussed quite a bit in this thread.
> As for the original question, if it's an author I don't know who's work I haven't read but for some reason decided to click on, I tend to skip it if it's not .txt format and thus instantly readable.  I usually don't feel like waiting for my slow computer to open up OpenOffice or Word to download a file just so I can read the first sentence, go "this sucks" and then close the window.  Because that's usually what happens, sadly.



I've fixed the quotes, thanks for the help.


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## Xipoid (May 26, 2008)

I suggest always using .txt except when posting exceptionally long short stories (maybe 30,000+ words).


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## Poetigress (May 26, 2008)

M. Le Renard said:


> As for the original question, if it's an author I don't know who's work I haven't read but for some reason decided to click on, I tend to skip it if it's not .txt format and thus instantly readable.  I usually don't feel like waiting for my slow computer to open up OpenOffice or Word to download a file just so I can read the first sentence, go "this sucks" and then close the window.  Because that's usually what happens, sadly.



Yeah, that's basically my opinion as well.  I tend to only download something if it's an author I'm familar with, or if I've been able to find something else in their gallery that's a .txt so I can read a few paragraphs and see what they're like.


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## lobosabio (May 26, 2008)

I tend to use the .txt format if the story is under two pages or so.  If it's over that or it has a special type of formating I go for .doc.


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## Poetigress (May 26, 2008)

Incidentally, I could be wrong, but I thought I heard somewhere that .doc isn't going to be supported in Ferrox.  I don't know if that would mean the files would all have to be uploaded again in .txt (or whatever extensions would still be allowed), or what.


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## Aurali (May 26, 2008)

probably just a conversion to the new system.


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## Le_DÃ©mon_Sans_Visage (May 26, 2008)

Another vote here for txt. Same reason I don't like buying books wrapped in plastic, I like to see what I'm getting (not to mention I have the tendancy to download and forget to read them).


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## TakeWalker (May 27, 2008)

Suggestion: shut off auto-replace. Smart quotes, 'true' ellipses and m-dashes are sins in the eyes of god. D:

But seriously, just shut it off. Who cares if your quote marks bend inward?


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## kitreshawn (May 27, 2008)

To the initial question:

I actually post both.  Part of that is because I use LaTeX which can format everything nicely without me having to think.  Since the LaTeX code file is (effectively) just a .txt file with some really simple html-ish code thrown in it is easy to convert the thing to .txt.  That way I can have a version with all the nice formatting (important since everything I write is at least 6 pages long) and actually is a better format for if they want to save the story or print it out.

Oh, and when I post drafts it is always .txt (partly because I have not decided what formatting is needed where).

If you do post both types, make sure you link them back and forth so people who prefer .txt can find that version, and visa versa.


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## M. LeRenard (May 27, 2008)

> Part of that is because I use LaTeX which can format everything nicely without me having to think.


No kidding?  It never occurred to me to use LaTeX for fiction writing.  But... that's actually not a bad idea.


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## yak (May 27, 2008)

TakeWalker said:


> Suggestion: shut off auto-replace. Smart quotes, 'true' ellipses and m-dashes are sins in the eyes of god. D:
> 
> But seriously, just shut it off. Who cares if your quote marks bend inward?



Amen, I was just going to rant about the Microsoft's "smart quotes" and how those are an abomination in the face of God when I read your post. 

The problem is - those "smart quotes" _never work_ outside of Microsoft products, with a very few exceptions. They aren't even normal ASCII characters and can not be rendered onscreen. 

How to Replace Smart Quotes with Straight Quotes


I would also like to remind, or announce to those who are unaware that FA _parses BBCode inside .txt files_, for your basic text formatting needs.


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## yak (May 27, 2008)

LaTeX....
I am not familiar with it, but if it is as simple as you say, kitreshawn, then I see no problem in making FA understand those.


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## M. LeRenard (May 27, 2008)

http://www.latex-project.org/
It's mostly used for writing articles for scientific journals, because once you know the coding you can just slap on the proper format and be done with it, and it's great for writing nice, clean equations and organizing charts and stuff.  It's really versatile, too; got an instruction book about the thickness of your average brick if you want to know everything it's capable of.  But it's free and real useful once you get the hang of it.


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## Talosar (May 29, 2008)

Eli said:


> It's not really FA that makes the error, I do believe FA saves the data correctly, but the browser itself stares at this quote, and goes, "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SYMBOL??!?!?" So it writes the question mark :3
> 
> Your using non standard punctuation on a standard html code.. it don't add up in the end.
> 
> NEVER copy and paste directly from something like MS word. convert the text into plain txt, then C/P.


 
Can you use "&quot;"? I don't know if that's even going to show up correctly here. I realise that would be rather cumbersome to use without a find all/replace all function, however.

And my vote is .txt for shorter stories and downloadable formats for the huge stuff. I find it more convenient that way.


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