Advice on Using Word Processor for Creating Posts

I know some of you prepare your posts by using a word processor Whenever I've tried this I get some weird results and gobledegook so I mostly compose my posts directly in the "Post to the forum" dialogue. However, I can see there are advantages in composing offline and simply pasting into the dialogue box. Not the least of these is the ability to spellcheck. Also because the text before posting is so small I find that with my dodgy eyesight I make a lot of mistakes and it can take me a long time to get it right. So a few questions for you clever people out there.

  • How do you eliminate the gobbledegook? I suspect it's something to do with the format with which you save the file but which one is it? Plain text, encoded text, rich text, HTML document?
  • What is the appropriate format and font size to use or does it get converted when you paste it?
  • In a word processor you can embed images. When you cut and paste into the post will the images copy or do you have to embed these independently in the post as I normally do?

I've got both Microsoft Word and its Open Office equivalent installed on my computer.

Sorry if this has been asked before but I did a search and couldn't find anything.

Your advice and help would be appreciated.

TJ

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Tony

My Flickr Photostream 

  • I'd like to know this too. I've only once tried it, when the forum was being flaky and I wanted to post a long reply and not lose it halfway through. It came out with the gobbledegook, and because of that someone assumed I'd copy-pasted someone else's words from the internet! As I have REALLY strong views about plagiarisation, I didn't want to risk creating that impression so I never did it again, but it would be very useful to be able to prepare replies in Word now and then.

  • Hi TJ!

    Can't answer your question as I write directly in the reply box too! But just to say that I use Google Chrome now as my browser and this does spell check for you!! It underlines words in red that it considers misspelt and a rick click on the word gives a list of alternatives or to add to dictionary for future use! (IMHO it is leaps and bounds ahead of IE which I was fed up of constantly freezing etc....!

    "All weeds are flowers, once you get to know them" (Eeyore)

    My photos on Flickr

  • Hi TJ

    I have seen the effects of what you mean several times, but I don't know how to fix the gobbldegook from appearing.

    However, I can confirm that my text size when I'm posting on here isn't small, and that it's the same size that I see posts from Word in. This text size can be adjusted by going to your Tools tab and increasing the Text size. Is that part of what you meant when you said the normal text size was small?

    Edited post: I'm pretty sure that you will still have to put photos and links in directly on the RSPB pages like before.

    Best wishes Chris

    Click Here to see my photos

  • Hello

    This is just a test to see if Microsoft works word processor works with cut and paste or not. It worked fine except it didn’t copy the picture as well it only done the text.

     

     

    Shane

     

    Regards Shane

     

    My Photos in Flickr.

  • Thanks, Marjus,  I gave up using IE years ago. I now use Mozilla Firefox which is very good as I'm sure Chrome is too. After your comment I checked the add ons in Firefox and found that I'd got the Dictionary switched off. I've now re-enabled it so it is underlining in red any words it doesn't recognise. Another small step for mankind. Thanks.

    TJ

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    Tony

    My Flickr Photostream 

  • Hi,

     

    I am typing this on a word document (Office 2000) and will then copy and paste it to the forum. I have done this several times in the past without any gobbledygook, although I have seen plenty of other posts with the gobbledygook stuff on it.

     

    I use Internet Explorer.

     

    Linda.

    EDIT: No gobbledygook!!!! I think it is something to do with the setting on your office/word docs.

     

    Cheers, Linda.

    See my photos on Flickr

  • Hi Chris

    No I actually meant that the text in the dialogue box when composing the post is smaller than it eventually appears in the final post. It's this I find hard to read. Is there any way of increasing this font size?

    TJ

    ____________________________________________________________________

    Tony

    My Flickr Photostream 

  • OK, I'm going to try it now (using Firefox) - text pasted from Word below:

    Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

    Given our long tradition of putting out food for the birds, we can hardly blame said birds for assuming anything edible left outside is there for them. It was only a few decades ago that everyone had a doorstep delivery of milk, which came in glass bottles sealed with a foil lid. Most of this milk was ‘full fat’, with the creamiest portion forming a visible layer in the top quarter. Those enterprising garden birds, the tits (family Paridae) worked out that the foil lid was easy to peck through, giving access to lovely creamy milk. Now milk deliveries are uncommon, the tits have yet to learn how to go to Tesco and buy their own, but it’s surely only a matter of time.

    ETA - damn! Gobbledegook still there :(

     

  • This is weird. Obviously, some people eg Shane and Sparrow can get it to work but you aiki like me have problems. I didn't thing the picture copying would work as Shane has demonstated.

    TJ

    ____________________________________________________________________

    Tony

    My Flickr Photostream 

  • I'm trying again, this time using Chrome:

     

     

    Given our long tradition of putting out food for the birds, we can hardly blame said birds for assuming anything edible left outside is there for them. It was only a few decades ago that everyone had a doorstep delivery of milk, which came in glass bottles sealed with a foil lid. Most of this milk was ‘full fat’, with the creamiest portion forming a visible layer in the top quarter. Those enterprising garden birds, the tits (family Paridae) worked out that the foil lid was easy to peck through, giving access to lovely creamy milk. Now milk deliveries are uncommon, the tits have yet to learn how to go to Tesco and buy their own, but it’s surely only a matter of time.

    ETA - aha! So maybe it is a Firefox thing?