Preview on the main page keeps wrecking my FPP

November 17, 2005 7:54 AM

Preview on the main page keeps wrecking my FPP.
posted by penguin pie to Bugs at 7:54 AM (23 comments total)

My html-fu is low so it may be me, but every time I go to preview my post, bits of it disappear by the time it reaches the screen, particularly the open bracket on the closing anchor tag. Posts to the front page have suddenly gone quiet so I wonder if it's not just me.
posted by penguin pie at 7:56 AM on November 17, 2005

check and recheck your html. especially quotes, double and single, and especially brackets. make sure they are matching up.
posted by quonsar at 8:00 AM on November 17, 2005

Yeah, if you want, you can include it here and practice. I'm pretty sure the code tidying is the same.
posted by jessamyn at 8:02 AM on November 17, 2005

I've checked it about 3 times and when I press preview the bits that I've corrected (including restoring all those brakets) disappear/change not only in the previewed post on the blue, but in the grey space where my code is.

jessamyn, do you mean I can post my post here first to try and find out what I'm doing wrong?
posted by penguin pie at 8:07 AM on November 17, 2005

email me the text of your post if you want, [e-mail] and i'll have a quick look at the html.
posted by quonsar at 8:15 AM on November 17, 2005

yeah, if q can't figure it out, post it here. I bet he'll see what's going wrong though.
posted by jessamyn at 8:17 AM on November 17, 2005

he has a good eye for wrongness

the other eye is terrible, though
posted by cortex at 8:19 AM on November 17, 2005

In my opinion the only HTML formatting you really need for a FPP is the <a href=""> tag.

Unless you're y2karl.

YMMV.
posted by loquacious at 8:22 AM on November 17, 2005

If you have a less-than in the text, there's a very good chance that will screw things up in exactly this manner. For example:

<b>3 + 4 < 9</b>br>
shows up as:

3 + 4 < 9/b>
posted by Plutor at 8:22 AM on November 17, 2005

It even confuses the auto-BRs.
posted by Plutor at 8:22 AM on November 17, 2005

Why don't I mention the fix: use "&lt;" instead of a less-than symbol in the text. Leave less-than and greater-than "brackets" in HTML tags like they are. Previous example becomes:

<b>3 + 4 &lt; 9</b>
posted by Plutor at 8:25 AM on November 17, 2005

Thanks guys, will email quonsar's magic all seeing eye first up.
posted by penguin pie at 8:26 AM on November 17, 2005

I've been quonsared and am all ready to rock, see you in the blue in a bit (and thence to html 101).

Thanks again, quonsar.
posted by penguin pie at 9:03 AM on November 17, 2005

ok, i just experienced a cable outage. great timing. anyway, it only lasted a few minutes. i got the email and fixed it. just a proofreading error or a misunderstanding of the anchor tag. they were written as

<a href="address" link text</a> instead of
<a href="address">link text</a>
posted by quonsar at 9:05 AM on November 17, 2005

I remember the days when I didn't know an anchor tag from a quonsar. Good job, q.
posted by sciurus at 9:18 AM on November 17, 2005

This is why we get to have nice things.
posted by OmieWise at 9:22 AM on November 17, 2005

btw, i still blame the vermiculite.
posted by quonsar at 9:30 AM on November 17, 2005

It's ok, quonsar. You did asbestos you could.
posted by eddydamascene at 10:08 AM on November 17, 2005

eddy will be here all week folks! try the veal!
posted by quonsar at 10:53 AM on November 17, 2005

When was the last time I mentioned that I miss the <big> tag?
posted by If I Had An Anus at 10:54 AM on November 17, 2005

Posts to the front page have suddenly gone quiet so I wonder if it's not just me.

Have just learnt that apparently there's some kind of holiday thing in Americaland today, which might also explain this.
posted by penguin pie at 11:46 AM on November 17, 2005

Can you imagine the disaster that could be wrought by the <big> tag if you did in fact have an anus?
posted by kindall at 11:47 AM on November 17, 2005

holiday thing in Americaland

huh? you mean the great american smoke-out?
posted by quonsar at 12:27 PM on November 17, 2005