# Errr...



## Kerns (Apr 2, 2010)

What are the document formats that are accepted without flaws.  

I've only worked with basic txt.  Though my future stuff will be done in a full blown word processor (Microsoft Word 2007) {legal}  and I'm having trouble with uploading..    I'm not sure what formats are prime to upload. (extension and program favored for it)


----------



## GraemeLion (Apr 2, 2010)

Here, I'd just upload text.  Most the stuff is going to be read off the screen and not downloaded anyway.

If you have a full length novel that you're going to want formatted, I'd format it as a PDF and offer it for download as a journal link or something.


----------



## Poetigress (Apr 2, 2010)

Yep, upload as text. You can use BBCode (same as here in the forum) if you need italics or bold. You shouldn't need much more than that in terms of formatting. 

When you save it as text, if I remember correctly, I believe you need to choose "Other Encoding" in the window that pops up, and then select Unicode UTF-8 from the dropdown menu, so FA doesn't choke on the special characters like smart quotes. Of course, I keep the smart quotes and most of that stuff turned off in Word, anyway. *shrug*

If it's novel length, IMO your best bet is to post it chapter by chapter. People seem much more willing to follow a story bit by bit than download a long file all at once.


----------



## auzbuzzard (Apr 2, 2010)

Why not PDF? You can preserve every formatting.


----------



## Poetigress (Apr 2, 2010)

Nothing wrong with PDF in theory, but in practice readers on FA --myself included  -- are notoriously lazy about downloading files, so if you post any file that has to be downloaded in order to be read, you risk losing people who might otherwise at least skim the first few paragraphs to see if it's worth their time.


----------



## auzbuzzard (Apr 2, 2010)

Then why FA not adding the ability to draw PDF and other formats right on the page?


----------



## GraemeLion (Apr 2, 2010)

It's unnecessary.  And in fact, there aren't very many sites that draw PDF right on the screen, because to do that you have to re-render, thus losing the format saving capabilities of PDF.  

It's fine right now, as it is.  You shouldn't NEED more than text, as you are talking about written works.  If you want to offer an "enhanced" version, then I'd suggest offering text, and then using a PDF download to give the enhanced version.  

But I don't see why PDF is necessary for written works.  Maybe for printed stuff, it can come in handy, but for this, it's just textual.


----------

