davis_square | preformatted text

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lj community housekeeping

preformatted text

Just wondering if the mods would consider adding a "no preformatted text" text suggestion to the community info page?

I'm not the only one who got their view broken because of a pre tag and fixed width font today.

ETA: I guess that's probably a no. C'est la vie. Now to find a good "fit to width" add-on for firefox.

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That sounds like something you should fix with your view---pre tags are valid html, and so should not break stylesheets...

other people had the same problem.

I understand that, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a technical problem, not a social one.
You can change your view, or if you're using a standard one, request that LJ fix it, but it doesn't make sense to tell others that they can't use valid HTML because your post-processing code is borked.

I think it's because of fixed width font in pre-formatted text. Word wrap DIDN'T wrap.

The big problem with pre tags is that it ignores formatting. Short of putting a display:none on .pre and losing all of the content the only thing that can be done is to wrap the entries in a div, set the width, and set the overflow:hidden property. This will clip the pre formatted text at the div boundary and keep the view working. This will also fix the problem with fixed width img tags wider than the view.

One could also try setting the white-space property (http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/text.html#white-space-prop).

I've also seen places that force a width and set overflow:scroll.

That can certainly be added if people think it would be helpful.

Was there a specific post that broke your view? I just want to see how it acts in my browser.

There was one earlier today, but the author removed the <pre> tag later.

If I put preformatted text into a comment, does it cause the same problem?  Lorum ipsem etaoin shrdlu.

Yes.

Yep. I see what the OP meant.

Ya know, if you're really so concerned about how your livejournal is formatted, wouldn't it make far more sense to view it through an html rewriting proxy or tool such as greasemonkey? Why should everyone conform to your whims?

the same question should be asked of those who use the pre element. If someone is really so concerned with how their text is rendered, wouldn't it make far more sense to use other elements which render properly, or to at the very least make use of the width attribute within the pre element?

Luke, use the targeting computer. That's what it's there for.

First off, the width attribute has been deprecated (and besides, what width should be used?). Second, pre is very useful and for some things, it's the best tool for the job.

And, for those of us who AREN'T html gurus, and use livejournal, expecting things to show up right, because LJ is supposed to NOT require us to be HTML gurus, when someone's preformatted text causes us to need to use the horizontal scroll bar to read EVERYONE's entry on a friends page, due to that text not wrapping ...

I don't understand. <pre> means "render exactly as given". By definition it renders "properly".

because it wasn't just me who was affected.

For that matter, Opera has a view option called “fit to width” that will do various things to keep documents from scrolling horizontally — scaling down images, forcing linebreaks on PRE elements, and so on. Other browsers may also have something similar.

I'm trying to find one that works in Firefox 2.0.0.6

For what it's worth: some LJ layouts break less badly than others; in S1 “generator”, for example, it's just the one entry with the unwrappable text that goes way off to the right, while all the others on the page still get the regular width and positioning. I haven't cared enough yet to go look at the markup to see why this is.

I didn't read a no, though maybe it's more appropriate to just make it a poll? I dunno.

I mean, the mods were just self-appointed volunteers to enforce the rules, not to make them. Rule by the consent of the governed! :)

the tech savvy people seem to point, consensus-wise, towards it being my problem, not something anyone else needs to have to deal with.

Speaking as a techie, I'd call it a problem with LJ and I don't see why it'd be wrong to ask people to compensate for it. People can refuse, of course, but that's aside.

I happen to use S1-Generator so it doesn't affect me the same way, but imho, that isn't the point.

It's also perfectly "valid HTML" to put a dozen huge photos in an un-cut entry, but we still ask that people not do so.

as you see from the other techies, it's becoming more and more viewed as a reader side, not poster side, problem.

whatev.

I definitely think this is an issue with your individual styles, and if it breaks, you should fix your style.

pre {white-space: pre-wrap; }

seems to be the necessary CSS to fix the problem.

--Quentin

Drat. I also hate when people do non-standard things with text. Seriously, wtf is wrong with the default? I don't want to have to squint to read pretty, tiny, delicate little 5 point font, or sit 20 feet from the screen to read some ENORMOUS ALL CAPS 80 pt announcement (granted, I did not see the post that inspired this request, so I don't know what kind of formatting screwed up your - and others' - view). Long URLs screw up my horizontal space, too.

Too bad for you, it seems. It's YOUR fault you don't know how to program either your browser or the style page you read LJ through.

I know. I should totally stop wasting my time reading LJ and doing schoolwork and learn to write my own journal style and all that jazz.

I'm on the road so didn't see this yesterday.

My take on it is that it is general good LJ-etiquette to avoid posting things that force a wide width. That includes images (over about 600 pixels wide), and pre text with full length lines, and also very long strings of !!!'s and other unwrappable things. There's nothing davis_square-specific about this. If someone posts something like that, ask them to either lj-cut it or change it. They almost always do.

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non-techies shouldn't read lj (sarcasm alert)

Re: non-techies shouldn't read lj (sarcasm alert)

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