Yeah, buttons for Bold, Italic, Underline and Strikethrough would be nice, so we could highlight text, tap the button, and have the tags go in around the selected text. Being able to still enter them manually would be handy too - maybe something like WordPress which has a text entry and a preview tab?
Will this be something we can use in mobile?
Hmm
^ I think so. One thing I liked about the Wayfinder app was that it was easy to tag text with whatever you needed as well as format your dice rolls, so I'd love to see those features added :)
Honestly, it's not something I'd ever given a lot of thought to before but it would definitely save some time when composing so I'd be all for it!
Will this be something we can use in mobile?
Hmm
Depends, but the short answer is 'probably'.
The longer answer is yes (on Android) if I get the extension working in Firefox for Android... and yes if I make a mobile app based on the extension, but no until then.
Appreciate all the feedback (and would welcome more). So far it sounds like people aren't too concerned with getting rid of the tags entirely, caring more about adding easy ways to tag text. Is that a good assessment?
Yeah, for me, I typo a lot. So highlighting a section of text and clicking a tag button would be really helpful.
Funny enough the tags are the biggest thing stopping me from starting PbP GMing right now. I have been looking for something with a WYSIWYG capacity for this for a bit now. It seems there is a shrotage of GM's and I would at least start doing PFS stuff if the formating were not so time consuming.
Mostly it is typing the tags, then previewing and figureing out where I screwed up and did close a bracket on something. It is possible it is just me but right now I spend too much time formating the text.
I am fairly new to the forms and PbP but an old very long time gamer and the less noticable the interface the better. Right now it is like a 1990 word processing program.
Yeah, it's like WordStar back in the day or hand-crafting HTML somewhat later. For what it's worth, I often generate both the start and the end tags first (or copy-paste them from wherever I have them handily stored) and then insert the important stuff in between.
That allows me to concentrate on getting the tags correct (only takes a moment), then forget about them as I type the stuff that goes between them.
Until Oladon's magic is available, that technique might help you in your quest for the perfect post.
Glad to see you tackling this. I never was able to find the time to integrate what I was doing with your extension.
For me it's about not having to deal with the tags. The forums have some quirks in how tags are interpreted (e.g., ooc tags can't span a double-newline, but a single newline is OK...why?) which is my biggest complaint. It makes writing with complex formatting very tedious.
Being able to edit the raw source is important, though.
Quick buttons to imput tags would be amazing. I hate writing things in Word and then pasting in.
Awesome news. Any help I can give just let me know :)
I think it is safe to say that we all appreciate the effort.
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A few thoughts:
- A local buffer of kind would be awesome. Let me explain what I mean: the buffer will store all input BEFORE a preview/submit operation happens. That way one would not loose an hour-long GM-post by session timeout / server crash / other internet crap. I don't know exactly how to implement that though. Maybe a simple copy to clipboard before submitting kind of thing?- Tags are ... well o.k. Having buttons for inserting them ... Don't really know if that would speed things up for me, as I am a pretty fast with typing. A very basic thing would be a macro that immediately inserts the closing tag after you typed the opening tag. Guess that would be the most helpful thing for me.
I created this editor that understands the Paizo forum tags a few months ago. It's got some quirks, but it might give you enough of what you are looking for in the first item, and it implements the second. Being able to make complex entries without having to type all those tags, and work around the restrictions of how Paizo's tags work, is a relief. Making posts with complex formatting, especially in the PbP games where it tends to come up, is a chore.
Like I said, my little WYSIWYG editor has its own set of quirks, too, but they are less frustrating quirks. Generally. ;)