APPROPRIATE POSTING FORMATS/STYLES: HOW TO PROPERLY ROLEPLAY WITH YOUR BBCODE.
Alright. Before you go off reporting me for being a total salty, abrasive a*****e, do remember that this is here to help you, no matter how insulting it comes off as. I'm kind of, but not really, sorry if you get all butthurt because of the way I project myself on the internet.
Posted: Sun Aug 04, 2013 3:28 am
Let's start with...
DEM LIST CODES.
First off, let's start with the magical list code: this is a very wonderful, very powerful tool, and helps shove your text to the side without making it look funky like alignment codes. However, some of us use the centered site for Gaia, and so, too many list codes will kill people like us. Your post format may look pretty to you, but to us centered site users, it looks squished and kind of gross. It's kind of depressing. So... Why am I griping about list codes? Because I'm a cranky centered site user. Let me show you what too many list codes make your posts look like:
It also squishes text up against the wall of your post so the entire post you're typing out
starts to look like this, and that's kind of annoying, don't you think?
Dreaming is Free
Golden Giver
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Dreaming is Free
Golden Giver
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Posted: Sun Aug 04, 2013 3:28 am
Next on the list...
BIG IMAGES. PLEASE HIDE THEM AWAY.
Okay, so now that we have the "centered site" rant about list codes wrapped up, let's move onto another pet peeve of mine, and perhaps other centered site users: BIG. ********. IMAGES. Now, before you say...
Let me say that everybody should make time to learn about spoiler codes, and also the cons of having big images flood your threads. The loading time on these images for people with less-than-stellar internet takes ********, and it also stretches out the centered site like an unmentionable simile I tend to use that has a horrid sexual aftertaste that will make you want to go purchase a few gallons of eye bleach. Let me show you what I mean. I'm going to show an old home thread to you all, and you tell me what's wrong with this picture. Note that I have my browser ZOOMED OUT in order to capture the full image in one go. If I was zoomed in 100%, I would have to side-scroll in order see the full image. Another thing: For centered site users, the biggest you can have your image, width wise, is 750px. Any bigger, and it will stretch out your posts and make the centered site start to look janky.
A great way to AVOID THIS is by using spoiler buttons. They're simple as hell, and the more you use them, the more addicted you'll get to them, and the cleaner your threads will look. You will also get praise from me, and the thanks of many centered site users or people with shitty internet connections. "But Grimeeeee, I don't know the code for a spoiler button!" Here you go:
[spoiler]s**t goes here. images, text, video, whatever you want.[/spoiler]
Posted: Sun Aug 04, 2013 3:29 am
Finally, we reach...
B, I, U, S... THAT MAKES PRETTY FONT STUFF.
Next on our agenda is the proper use of bolded, italicized, underlined, and striked fonts, as well as APPROPRIATE font sizes to use for roleplaying. I'm going to show you a writing sample (written by your's truly), and I'm going to show you how you're supposed to use the font styles as I have listed above.
A Writing Sample
Charlie chuckled as he ducked under a table, crossbow in hand, the rain of bullets from across the room now ricocheting off the stone columns of the casino halls. "Damn fine shootin' boys. Too bad you're missing your target!" Giving out a howl of cocky laughter, the man took a roll to the side and landed on his stomach under another table, firing at the knees of the mobsters that had cornered him. Those bastards thought I was cheating. I haven't played a crooked game in about... Three days? Besides, that dealer was shifty as hell. When the mobsters fell on their asses, clutching their knees and screaming in unimaginable pain, the gamblin' man got to his feet and made a break for the door, only to get knocked down blocked by a rather rotund man in a pinstripe suit. Who the hell is this guy?
Okay, so you see where I have put certain parts of BBCode? We should all know by now that we use bold letters for speech, and italicized letters for thought or for accentuation on a word (for example, italicizing your words can help you lather on the sarcasm, or allow the reader to imagine you drawing out a word), but did you know that you can use striked words to mark out less-than-secret, dastardly aspirations of your character? It helps you develop a voice, just a bit. Later on, you'll hear my voice a little louder as I use more striked codes to accentuate the sarcastic tone I have dripping from these words. One last thing before I forget: underlined words. Let's not over-use them, okay? Okay. The appropriate useage of underlined words is when you really, really, really, really want to accentuate that particular word. Like that really I just bolded, italicized, and underlined.
Dreaming is Free
Golden Giver
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Dreaming is Free
Golden Giver
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Posted: Sun Aug 04, 2013 3:29 am
Now we move...
ONTO FONT SIZES!
Let me grab the same roleplay sample and show you how it's supposed to look like, and then how I have seen some people roleplay. Okay, here's the golden rule of forum roleplay when it comes to font size: Nothing under size 9 font, and nothing over size 12 font. Why? Well, let me show you what happens when I shrinky dink the font to a happy size 7.
A Writing Sample
Charlie chuckled as he ducked under a table, crossbow in hand, the rain of bullets from across the room now ricocheting off the stone columns of the casino halls. "Damn fine shootin' boys. Too bad you're missing your target!" Giving out a howl of cocky laughter, the man took a roll to the side and landed on his stomach under another table, firing at the knees of the mobsters that had cornered him. Those bastards thought I was cheating. I haven't played a crooked game in about... Three days? Besides, that dealer was shifty as hell. When the mobsters fell on their asses, clutching their knees and screaming in unimaginable pain, the gamblin' man got to his feet and made a break for the door, only to get knocked down blocked by a rather rotund man in a pinstripe suit. Who the hell is this guy?
WHAT THE ******** DOES THAT SAY? WHAT IS THIS? A POST FOR ANTS? IT NEEDS TO BE AT LEAST.... THREE TIMES BIGGER THAN THIS! Let's try again in size 10 font, shall we?
A Writing Sample
Charlie chuckled as he ducked under a table, crossbow in hand, the rain of bullets from across the room now ricocheting off the stone columns of the casino halls. "Damn fine shootin' boys. Too bad you're missing your target!" Giving out a howl of cocky laughter, the man took a roll to the side and landed on his stomach under another table, firing at the knees of the mobsters that had cornered him. Those bastards thought I was cheating. I haven't played a crooked game in about... Three days? Besides, that dealer was shifty as hell. When the mobsters fell on their asses, clutching their knees and screaming in unimaginable pain, the gamblin' man got to his feet and made a break for the door, only to get knocked down blocked by a rather rotund man in a pinstripe suit. Who the hell is this guy?
Much better. 10 or 11 point font is the optimal font size to post in. Why? It compresses your posts into a compact form (for those of you who write novels for posts), and it looks much tidier than say... A 14 point font face. Want to see such an atrocity? Well... Here you go. I warned you.
A Writing Sample
Charlie chuckled as he ducked under a table, crossbow in hand, the rain of bullets from across the room now ricocheting off the stone columns of the casino halls. "Damn fine shootin' boys. Too bad you're missing your target!" Giving out a howl of cocky laughter, the man took a roll to the side and landed on his stomach under another table, firing at the knees of the mobsters that had cornered him. Those bastards thought I was cheating. I haven't played a crooked game in about... Three days? Besides, that dealer was shifty as hell. When the mobsters fell on their asses, clutching their knees and screaming in unimaginable pain, the gamblin' man got to his feet and made a break for the door, only to get knocked down blocked by a rather rotund man in a pinstripe suit. Who the hell is this guy?
JESUS CHRIST, THAT'S BIG. BIGGER THAN RON JEREMY'S... Ahem. It looks gross, right? Right. Let's stay away from bigger fonts and stick to our lovely 9-12 point fonts, children.
Posted: Sun Aug 04, 2013 3:29 am
Our next course is...
FONT COLORS, FRIEND OR FOE?
FONT COLORS! GOODY HOORAY! Here is a major pet peeve of not just roleplayers, but BBCode addicts, forum junkies, and people who have to read your walls of text:
bright fonts and rainbowlettering. Both of these are disgusting and should only be used in post style decoration, not in the actual post itself. You should feel bad for using bad colors for roleplaying. I've seen people who write whole posts in yellow,cyan, violet, and god forbid, super light grays and neon colors, and let me tell you, if a single word is hard to read, then you're going to have SO MUCH FUN reading WHOLE posts in these colors. Let's take that sample from earlier that you've probably memorized by now, and put some color on it.
A Writing Sample
Charlie chuckled as he ducked under a table, crossbow in hand, the rain of bullets from across the room now ricocheting off the stone columns of the casino halls. "Damn fine shootin' boys. Too bad you're missing your target!" Giving out a howl of cocky laughter, the man took a roll to the side and landed on his stomach under another table, firing at the knees of the mobsters that had cornered him. Those bastards thought I was cheating. I haven't played a crooked game in about... Three days? Besides, that dealer was shifty as hell. When the mobsters fell on their asses, clutching their knees and screaming in unimaginable pain, the gamblin' man got to his feet and made a break for the door, only to get knocked down blocked by a rather rotund man in a pinstripe suit. Who the hell is this guy?
MY EYES. DEAR GOD, MY EYES. BY THE GRAND DESIGN, THAT IS HORRID. I understand if you have your color scheme on your computer set to INVERTED to help you see better, Blind Betty, but some of us have 20/20 vision (with or without glasses), and that s**t burns the retinas. Seriously, knock it off. Stick with toned down grays or NO font color at all for the general gist of your post. "Alright Grime, what's an appropriate way to use color in our posts, then?" GLAD YOU ASKED, MY SIMPLE-MINDED FRIEND. Color is a decorative substance, and therefore, must be used lightly, sprinkled over roleplay posts like a light dusting of glitter upon a scrap booking project. When there is thought, or speech in a roleplay post, then you are allowed to use a color PEOPLE CAN READ to make the dialogue pop. Like so:
A Writing Sample
Charlie chuckled as he ducked under a table, crossbow in hand, the rain of bullets from across the room now ricocheting off the stone columns of the casino halls. "Damn fine shootin' boys. Too bad you're missing your target!" Giving out a howl of cocky laughter, the man took a roll to the side and landed on his stomach under another table, firing at the knees of the mobsters that had cornered him. Those bastards thought I was cheating. I haven't played a crooked game in about... Three days? Besides, that dealer was shifty as hell. When the mobsters fell on their asses, clutching their knees and screaming in unimaginable pain, the gamblin' man got to his feet and made a break for the door, only to get knocked down blocked by a rather rotund man in a pinstripe suit. Who the hell is this guy?
Darker colors, but not colors close to black or grey, for that would defeat the purpose of making your dialogue pop, are perfect for these situations. A list of colors and their hex codes can be found here. This website is a super useful tool for anyone and everyone who wants unique colors outside of Gaia's limited range provided in the BBCoding bar, and also helps you find colors people can actually read.
Dreaming is Free
Golden Giver
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Dreaming is Free
Golden Giver
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Posted: Sun Aug 04, 2013 3:30 am
Okay...
WE'RE DONE NOW.
Alright, I think that wraps up my rant on the proper application of BBCode when it comes to color/font size/and usage of list codes and images. When I can think of more pet peeves, or perhaps have questions asked, will I extend this lesson further. Hey, you, yeah, you. Did you read this all? Really? How about I quiz you then. Anyone who answers the quiz questions correctly on the first go via PM to me will get 5k from me personally. Perhaps that will give you incentive to make proper roleplay posts instead of bolded 14-point atrocities in cyan coloring.
Why are big images not cool? When is it okay to use bright, neon colors? What is the optimal font size that should be used for posts? If I want to use a big image, what should I do? Why do list codes annoy centered site users sometimes? When is it appropriate to bold, italicize, underline, and strike words?
