[FFML] A thought on the future of the FFML

[David Smith]

I'm wondering why the formatting question seems to be such a difficult 
issue.  On Fanfiction.net (and various other sites), there's a little 
black/white icon that you can click to change from a black text on a 
light background to light text on a dark background (and various other 
user interface options).  Why not have a similar toggle for pure text vs 
basic HTML markup?

In text mode, use a fixed-width font, wrap text at a specified width 
(eg: 80 ch), and change the interpretation of <i>, <b>, <u> elements by 
using something like this CSS:

i, em {
     font-style: normal;
}

i:before, em:before {
     content: "/";
}

i:after, em:after {
     content: "/";
}


When quoting in a forum environment, the editor should still show 
something like [i]italic text[/i].  If sending a copy to the email list, 
use standard text vs HTML  separation (the user can choose which version 
to display) and push exactly the same text as you would to the web page 
-- the text version gets the slashes, the HTML version gets the normal 
<i> tag.

If converting from an email to a forum reply, if the email is in HTML 
there's no issue (well, technically; realistically it opens up a lot of 
vulnerabilities for stuff that forum software blocks out using bbcode; 
if pulling in from email to the forum side, probably want to only use 
the pure text half).  If the email is in pure text, some simple parsing 
may be needed (ie: beginning and ending markers need to be within a 
single paragraph, and within the same quote segment if that's 
applicable), but some work is going to be needed regardless, if you want 
to push the email as a new reply to a forum thread.

Some ideas are floating around in my head for more general things that 
could be done, but they get complicated.  If you allow explicit 
references to parts of the story when creating a comment note (ie: 
similar to the Ophus system, rather than simple quoting), that becomes 
an issue when the original story gets modified.  That then brings up the 
idea of versioning the story (ie: git or hg), which brings in its own 
set of complications. Although.. a review site that was based on 
something closer to github or bitbucket than standard forum software or 
fanfiction.net sounds like it has potential....  That would take some 
serious thought to put together, though.

--
David