This feels like a newbie question, but for my life I cannot figure it out.

I know of no markup tags that can produce a typewriter font such as in this post. And it certainly does not appear in the FAQ.

So how is that done?


Oh, and by the way, how do you do that "In reply to:" thingie? No, seriously, my first question is perfectly serious.

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Emil's series of famous moments in film history:
Turn back, Sarah, before it's too late!

It is done with the [ pre ] and [ / pre ] tags.

Bowie in Australia 2004 | Join the Community

I feel so stupid. It's actually in the FAQ. On the other hand, there is no hint at all what pre actually means.

Surrounds the given text with pre tags.

That makes little sense to me! (perhaps because I don't speak English?)

Is this function new? Was this ever announced? I cannot recall having ever seen this until a few weeks ago. (and a search for "typewriter" in all forums, all posts gave a zero result.)

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Emil's series of famous moments in film history:
Turn back, Sarah, before it's too late!

I think it has always been there but as you say, it is really unclear what PRE is used for.

According to my HTML guide, the PRE tag is meant to show everything exactly as entered including line feeds and blank spaces.

Now as far as I know, the message board is designed to work like that anyway.

It also says that when a character string is nested in the PRE tag and has more characters than can fit in the screen width, the string will be automatically broken into multiple lines. But again, the TW CP does that most of the time anyway.

Bowie in Australia 2004 | Join the Community

In reply to:

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the PRE tag is meant to show everything exactly as entered including line feeds and blank spaces.

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Well, every character takes up the same space, just like a typewriter-typed text. A table can thus be made to be perfectly aligned:

Young Americans    1975
Station to station 1976
Low                1977
"Heroes"           1977

as opposed to: (exactly the same text and amount of blanks was entered below)
Young Americans 1975
Station to station 1976
Low 1977
"Heroes" 1977

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Emil's series of famous moments in film history:
Turn back, Sarah, before it's too late!

I must admit I never knew that the boards refuted multiple spaces - or if I had known, I had completely forgotten.

So as you have shown, it looks like an excellent thing to keep it in mind when creating tables.....and also any time we require indents.

Bowie in Australia 2004 | Join the Community

In reply to:

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So as you have shown, it looks like an excellent thing to keep it in mind when creating tables.....and also any time we require indents.

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But we all know that it will be the new cool thing that everyone does because it looks kindof raw and edgy. I'm just waiting for the first TW'er to post messages entirely in pre tags. A lot of real assholes around here, you know.

Peace out, dawgs.

I mentioned Bowie in this post
Monkeyboy for America
Dedicated to making pay and play politics work for once.

Post deleted by Grey_Nihilist

Close but not quite.

DIY

Whether or not it's unclear, especially as regards the blank spaces, depends on how much of a techie you are.

HTML is not designed to treat blank spaces entered with the space bar as distinct spaces. If you want to create a specified number of blank spaces, you need to use the & nbsp; (without the space after the ampersand) ASCII code. So you can make the pseudo-table if you do this, but it's cumbersome, as you need to estimate the precise number of spaces you need and code appropriately:

Young Americans 1975
Low                     1977

Also, you can't be 100% sure that every browser will render that properly. Mine does - tell me if yours doesn't.

The "pre" tag, on the other hand, does just what it says - displays what's typed exactly as is. Therefore spaces are rendered as spaces.

In a nutshell, that is.

WW

The average American walks less than 400 yards a day. The average American needs to get off his lazy ass and go for a walk -Mark Stevens

In reply to:

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Also, you can't be 100% sure that every browser will render that properly. Mine does - tell me if yours doesn't.

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Mine actually does, which probably depends on my browser using the same fonts as yours, right? Spaces is not the only difference between pre and "normal mode" - you alluded to this, WildWind, but let me type it out clear: different characters are assigned different widths when you're not in pre mode, therefore it's almost impossible to get a nice-looking table (although your example, WW, looked surprisingly perfect), and it will change if you customize your browser preferences to use another font. Look again at my previous example:

Young Americans
Station to station

Young Americans
Station to station

Without pre tags, the first line is actually wider (for me - I'm using IE today) although it contains less characters - because the second line contains many narrow characters such as i and t. Exactly how much wider depends on the font that your browser uses. With pre tags, you can control exactly how it will appear to everyone.

By the way, what does "pre" stand for?

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Emil's series of famous moments in film history:
Turn back, Sarah, before it's too late!

Preformatted text.

Question Marks

These pre tags everyone seems to have become addicted to do have a downside.
Anything in the pre tags won't wrap around according to your browser's window like regular text does.
i.e. a very long line written in the pre tags will stretch the browser window horizontally, like a large picture.

Example:

Spock's arms slipped around his waist from behind, pinning his arms to his sides. Kirk felt a warm, tender mouth nuzzling at the base of his neck. Surprised, he closed his eyes and leaned back into Spock's firm chest. 

Kafkaesque

Star Trek slash?

KArt | Project Michelangelo | LiveJournal

Bad fanfic, no cookie.

I support sex with imaginary friends.

What you mean no cookie? That make Cookie Monster very blue.

esst
mehr
cookies!

Awww. You're right, Monster sweetie. Even bad fanfic deserves a cookie. Everyone should have cookies!

I support sex with imaginary friends.

That was even more disturbing than the time I read Roy Orbison wrapped in clingfilm fan fiction.

I'll be appearing LIVE in Toronto April 1st. Sure, it's a David Bowie show but you're all coming to see me. More importantly, you're coming to see me in my awesome new pants.

In reply to:

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That was even more disturbing than the time I read Roy Orbison wrapped in clingfilm fan fiction.

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Glitterbot and I once momentarily thought that we had stumbled upon some Keeping Up Appearances slash. It turned out to be something else, sadly. I'm actually quite a fan of that show. I mean, it's no Golden Girls or Are You Being Served, but I'll take a heaping helping of Hyacinth Bucket any day of the week.

Not in a sexual way, mind you. Though I'd still read Keeping Up Appearances slash were I to find some...

force thee hand ov chance

In reply to:

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That make Cookie Monster very blue.

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But you already are.

Question Marks

In reply to:

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That was even more disturbing than the time I read Roy Orbison wrapped in clingfilm fan fiction.

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That's simultaneously the most funny and disturbing thing I've read in a while.


"It's not who does it first, it's who does it second" - Bowie.

What, the post or the fan fiction?

I'll be appearing LIVE in Toronto April 1st. Sure, it's a David Bowie show but you're all coming to see me. More importantly, you're coming to see me in my awesome new pants.

Just the concept of someone writing that makes me double over.

"It's not who does it first, it's who does it second" - Bowie.

Thank you, ruskie. This page now stretches so far to the side I can't read any of it. But your point it well taken.

I'll be seeing YOU in Philadelphia, Boston, Kansas City, St. Louis, Moline, Wantagh, and Holmdel. So dress sharp.

If just the concept makes you double over, well, you might not want to read this if you have a heart condition.

In reply to:

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It always starts the same way. I am in the garden airing my terrapin Jetta when he walks past my gate, that mysterious man in black.

'Hello Roy,' I say. 'What are you doing in Dusseldorf?'

'Attending to certain matters,' he replies.

'Ah,' I say.

He apprises Jetta's lines with a keen eye. 'That is a well-groomed terrapin,' he says.

'Her name is Jetta.' I say. 'Perhaps you would like to come inside?'

'Very well.' He says.

Roy Orbison walks inside my house and sits down on my couch. We talk urbanely of various issues of the day. Presently I say, 'Perhaps you would like to see my cling-film?'

'By all means.' I cannot see his eyes through his trademark dark glasses and I have no idea if he is merely being polite or if he genuinely has an interest in cling-film.

I bring it from the kitchen, all the rolls of it. 'I have a surprising amount of clingfilm,' I say with a nervous laugh. Roy merely nods.

'I estimate I must have nearly a kilometre in the kitchen alone.'

'As much as that?' He says in surprise. 'So.'

'Mind you, people do not realize how much is on each roll. I bet that with a single roll alone I could wrap you up entirely.'

Roy Orbison sits impassively like a monochrome Buddha. My palms are sweaty.

'I will take that bet,' says Roy. 'If you succeed I will give you tickets to my new concert. If you fail I will take Jetta, as a lesson to you not to speak boastfully.'

I nod. 'So then. If you will please to stand.'

Roy stands. 'Commence.'

I start at the ankles and work up. I am like a spider binding him in my gossamer web. I do it tight with several layers. Soon Roy Orbison stands before me, completely wrapped in cling-film. The pleasure is unexampled.

'You are completely wrapped in cling-film,' I say.

'You win the bet,' says Roy, muffled. 'Now unwrap me.'

'Not for several hours.'

'Ah.'

I sit and admire my handiwork for a long time. So as not to make the ordeal unpleasant for him we make small talk on topical subjects, Roy somewhat muffled. At some point I must leave him to attend to Jetta's needs. When I return I find he has hopped out of my house, still wrapped in cling-film. The loss leaves me broken and pitiful. He never calls me. He sends no tickets. The police come and reprimand me. Jetta is taken away, although I get her back after a complicated legal process.

There is only one thing that can console me. A certain dream, a certain vision...

It always starts the same way.

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I'll be appearing LIVE in Toronto April 1st. Sure, it's a David Bowie show but you're all coming to see me. More importantly, you're coming to see me in my awesome new pants.

Wow.


I may never sleep again.

"It's not who does it first, it's who does it second" - Bowie.