Awkward42 (imported) wrote: Sun May 20, 2012 4:09 pm
means "non-breaking space", which is an instruction to the web browser not to split the line at that point.
Since web browsers collapse multiple space characters into a single space, people noticed that web browsers will let you stack up non-breaking spaces to force the browser not to collapse them into one, and started using it for simple formatting, when they should have been using a style sheet. It's one way to finesse an indent onto the beginning of each paragraph. It looks good if you are printing a document onto paper, but it breaks all the rules of text on the web. So we try to avoid using non-breaking spaces that way.
I think the editors and programmers are aware of the HTML character entities. The new editor (that will be used for new stories, and is currently used for fixing up old ones) does pretty well. But I have my doubts about trying to include instructions about HTML character entities, or other technical matters, for new submissions. It's much better to try to keep it as simple as possible for now. (It's hard enough to get people to use spellcheck!)
I know some people like the look of paragraphs with the first line indented, and/or a blank line between paragraphs. In fact, if you don't have a blank line or an indent, it makes it quite hard to spot paragraph breaks. It's possible to compose in an editor that is comfortable for you, then convert it to the format Cainanite described. FocusWriter and MarkdownPad are a couple of possibilities; Notepad++ can do a bunch of things to a document, like remove every blank line or the non-breaking spaces at the beginnings of paragraphs. Better if you can do it so Cainanite doesn't have to.
The key is probably to remember that you are not designing a document to be printed onto paper (or at least it is not the only thing). It's simpler than that. Sentences. Return at the end of paragraphs. No indent at the beginning. Spellcheck. No fonts, colors, and very little of other kinds of formatting. Maybe italics or bold used sparingly. Format as Cainanite mentioned.
Maybe in the future we can work on a few minor tweaks ... but in this case, simpler will still probably be better.
On the other hand, if you do spot a place in a story where a non-breaking space would make things better, let us know and we might fix it as time allows.
If you need me to, I can go in and edit them and re-send to the gmail so you don't have to fuss with them. Just let me know!If you need me to, I can go in and edit them and re-send to the gmail so you don't have to fuss with them. Just let me know!
