h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've just tested again (in A1019684). It does indeed convert to but my browser (IE6) does not display it as an extra break or gap.

*looks* This computer also uses IE6. Using , I can create a line break between two markers:

**Marker1****Marker2**

RhoMuNuQ

ps, Did you see post 20?

Yes I saw post 20. I always go back a page if I unexpectedly find myself on a new one. You do grovel so beautifully - and Spelugx seems to have gone to bed or at least off-line.

Re: "GuideML and actual article content"
While I use it a lot myself casually, it is seldom that "actual" adds anything to a sentence. There is another way to add emphasis and contrast to these. Try: "GuideML formatting and article content".

How's that?

RhoMuNuQ

Paragraph 4: "This tells the parser the 'area' within which the command should operate, which is everything between the opening and closing tags."

This looks lost on its own, is much the same message as para 2 and awkwardly repeats "which". Why not abut it to para 3 and reword so that it looks more connected. For example:

"In between these [tags] goes the content on which the command should operate."

I wasn't sure whether the word "tags" there helped or not.

Sorry simulpost.

NB did you decide you preferred "italics text" to "italicised text"? I think this was one of the few things on which Spelugx and I actually agreed.

Are "lowercase" and "uppercase" single words these days and not even hyphenated? My most recent physical dictionary still has them as separate words with an option for hyphenating but nothing about single word status. I noticed that a lot of other words had lost their hyphens in the last round of dictionary updates. As an ancient user of English I have trouble getting used to all these changes.

Still in that paragraph: "capital letters, to make" does not need the comma. The next sentence is too messy with conjunctions and commas. It could be split several ways. How about (ignoring joined-up-ness of words for now):

"Lowercase tags also work in GuideML. However, if you use an uppercase opening tag then you must use an uppercase closing tag. Similarly, if you use a lowercase opening tag then you must use a lowercase closing tag. This is because the parser is set to expect an exact match. Mixed case tags are not allowed at all."

I think that last bit is true anyway.

", not" has some strange formatting. I don't think the comma is necessary and the bold "not" has no following space before the tag.

With the exception to the rule stuff, it is back sounding like an OOP manual again.

"self-closing tags: the" - colon could be a full-stop and new sentence.

"Rather then" should be "Rather than" but how about: "Rather than
specifying the formatting of content between a tag pair, the self-closing tag defines an object with associated behaviour." I'm sure the end could be put better but I'm running out of enthusiasm again.

The last 2 paras are the wrong way round and a bit repetitive. Just stick this onto the main one in this section instead (and note also the change from quickest to simplest):

"It clearly makes much more sense to have a self-closing <SMILEY> tag than a self-closing tag. However, the simplest example of a self-closing tag is the "line break" - ."

Oops there's something in the guidelines about the use of single quotes and double quotes. I'm sure I disagree with whatever they've chosen but it should at least be consistent throughout an article and yo've got both single and double in there. I only remembered/noticed because the formatting of my last post went wrong.

That's a lot of suggestions. Here are my comments on the suggestions, in the order that they were suggested.

- I agree entirely. I've removed the current sentence and added your suggested sentence to Para 3. I think having the word 'tags' there is useful as the sentence could otherwise, for example, be interpreted as saying 'between these forward slashes'.

- I forgot to change 'Italics text' to 'Italicised text'. I've done so now.

- I think that 'lowercase' and 'uppercase' are the best forms of the words to use.

- I like the wording of the suggested paragraph - I've used it in place of the previous paragraph. Everything you wrote was accurate.

- I've removed the unnecessary comma. There was a space between 'not' and '' in the original GuideML but it was removed by the parser. Therefore, I've used &nbsp; to force the space.

- I've changed the colon to a full stop.

- I've modified the suggested sentence slightly and used it. As any GuideML tag can be self-closed, it could be misleading to say that text and , which parses as , act in totally different ways.

- I've flipped the last two paragraphs and merged them, as suggested. I've used the suggested wording with one modification: I removed the 'however' at the beginning of the second sentence.

- You're quite right - the Edited Guide standard is to use single quotation marks except when quoting speech. I've changed all "s to 's.

Thanks a lot for all the comments - I've now credited you on the article! If you don't want to be credited, just post and I'll remove the credit.


RhoMuNuQ

SEF - can I suggest becoming a subeditor to you? You seem to be doing a much better job than Rho on this one?

spelugx -- who was busy last night subbing an article on 'oral-formulaic theory', ugg

Don't be mean to Rho, Spelugx. He had probably been staring at it too long and is on holiday after all! I know I could do sub-editing (I used to write technical documents as part of my profession) but I wouldn't really enjoy it or have the time with my other nefarious activities. I also don't approve of the local editorial customs. One of the reasons I won't write for the Edited Guide here is that the BBC and subs can mess up anything you write. So it would be a bit hypocritical of me to assist in this process unless specifically asked (as by Rho on this occasion).

Spelugx,

All the entries are planned to be going into Peer Review once they're finished, which isn't yet. Just now, I regard all the entries in the project as unfinished!

Why not work on your own project entry at some point in the near future?

RhoMuNuQ

Heh. You're trying to tell me to do some work, right? I am currently very busy procrastinating. I even built a computer this morning to get out of doing DT. I will work on the article at some point in the future, that is certain.

spelugx

Excellent - the sooner the better!

RhoMuNuQ