Sweatshop

rob
June 11, 2007, 15:05

Own up - who tinkered with the formatting of my poem? As I look at it now on my computer it begins with left justification (but pushed over to the right by the ad block) then continues centred (yuk!). Also, it is double spaced - which I thought was only for manuscripts (to allow for correction). So, if anyone is reading it as my 'contribution to the poetry formatting debate', forget that for now, and focus on the heartfelt message.

Mo
June 11, 2007, 15:18

Not certain what happened, but it looked like this story wasn't 'cleaned' yet (we often remove extraneous HTML code to reduce the filesize and keep everything in the same style).
I have done this now, but am not certain if you want the double spacing or not. Please advise.

rob
June 11, 2007, 16:42

Thanks Mo. I prefer single spacing.

Chuckwoww
June 11, 2007, 19:58

Nice little tale. You covered a lot there in a few well chosen words. I'm noticing quite a lot of young, slim farangs ogling the flesh these days but that's another story.

rob
June 12, 2007, 03:25

You're right, Chuckwoww, 'fat farangs' is a cliche and not even very accurate. Next time I'm tempted to write that phrase I'll put my mind in gear first.

Marc Holt
June 12, 2007, 06:17

Isn't there somewhere else you could put that annoying advertising block? Perhaps in the right hand column under the font sizes? This would make more sense as the text would retain the right formatting, n'est pas?

Mo
June 12, 2007, 09:03

It probably isn't as straight-forward as just moving it to the right as it would class with the fontsize box. I'll play around a bit though, maybe change the size of the fontsize box or so.

rob
June 13, 2007, 14:37

Why not have an ad block that goes all the way across the top, or start the poems part way down? In some of my earlier submissions I tried to 'beat the ad block' with a prose introduction, but that didn't work because the number of lines varied with screen resolution.

Dana
June 17, 2007, 21:03

Rob is correct and the solution is obvious--go to a banner ad that goes all the way across. Then there would be no formatting problems.

Many of my stories do not start with straight text--there are preambles or introductions in the form of quotes or minor ideas. They are integral to the story that follows and should be formatted with respect and consistancy. Currently I do not feel I can submit any of this material because it gets butchered by the Ad block situation.

For this situation to exist on a website that is oriented towards writers is a mystery. "Honey, I respect you. Now let me abuse you."

mike
June 17, 2007, 22:40

Dana and all, I think that is a good idea, the banner ad rather than the 'block' ad. Let's see what Mo can come up with when he has the time. The ad block can take up to four Google ads. I'd like to keep that amount. The more ads this ad block can show the better for those using the system. Mo's work situation right now is rather hectic. He's working on it, and we'll do a bit of experimenting to see what can work for this. Once again, thank you all for your input, ideas and comments.