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THE GUIDE TO WRITING TEXT FILES
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written by: paranoidxe
date: 04/22/04
email: paranoidtsi@hotmail.com
There are very few text files that are good guides to writing..well text
files. Most of them are either subject specific or are considerably dated.
In this document I will show you some good techniques in writing in text.
This document is based on what I have personally seen in text files, as well
as my personal writing experiences in the past 5 years of text creation.
My goal is simply to help people understand how to write text files and to
understand why people do it.
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WHY SHOULD I USE TXT..
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There are many reasons why I feel that text files are superior to that of
alternative methods such as HTML, SWF (Shockwave), Acrobat, Word, etc. Here
are some of the reasons:
- text files are virtually universal, almost ANY computer in the world can
view the document at anytime. Unlike word documents that require you to
have word installed, or PDF files that require Acrobat Reader. Word won't
install on a 80386 now will it? No. A text file would be viewable on a
ancient machine. HTML is a special case, yes HTML can look nice and is
virtually universal...there is just one problem..in some cases the
alignment, coding could appear fine in one browser but look like shit in
another. text on the otherhand will look virtually the same with no
retarded formatting problems.
- text files are easy to print, this makes them very easy for you to read
when you aren't at the computer. When was the last time you saw a Word
Doc or a Acrobat Doc that was easy to print and didn't use so much ink
and require tweaks to make it print right? There are some HTML documents
that are printer friendly, true but they sometimes don't print right and
use more ink in most cases.
- text files are small in size, this means that they are easy to transfer
between people and a dial-up user can easily read without having to wait
15 minutes for it to load. On average a text file is about 10 times
smaller than a equiv. HTML document, and almost 30 times smaller than
the equiv. Word DOC. If thats not enough, text files are also very
open to compression schemes, a typical ZIP archive can cut a text file
nearly 50% in size.
- text files appear HOW YOU want it to appear, there is no special software
requirements to view the file correctly. The only possible problem is that
the font might be different in appearance, but this does not damage the
layout at all like HTML might.
- many operating systems have a text editor built right in, windows has
notepad/wordpad, while dos has edit. This means you don't need to go out
and buy special software to type.
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REASONS PEOPLE WRITE..
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There are a few reasons people will write text documents, here are some of
the more common ones, your reasons may vary:
- TO SAY SOMETHING, they might just want to express themselves and see what
the world thinks.
- TO MAKE A STATEMENT, to try and turn people to see their beliefs and
follow theirs.
- TO BECOME POPULAR, they want to make a name for themselves.
- TO REFLECT LATER, maybe simply for times sake they want to reflect what
they were feeling on day <x>. Like a diary perhaps.
- TO HELP PEOPLE, some people just want to write to help people understand
various concepts or help them step-by-step to accomplish something.
There may be other reasons people write, ALL are valid. There is no such
thing as a invalid reason to write text documents.
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WHERE DO I START..
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So you want to write text files huh? There should be a built-in text editor
in your operating system. Some of the common built-in ones are:
WINDOWS - notepad/wordpad
DOS - edit.com
MAC - simpletext
If you want more complex editors than the ones available for whatever
reason,
here are some you can try:
For Linux: Vim, Joe, Jed, Emacs, ee, nedit, Pico
For Windows: Notetab Light, EditPad Classic, Metapad, Notepad+
For Mac: BBEdit, BBEdit Lite, Tex-Edit Plus, Alpha
If you are running Windows 95/98/ME and your file sizes exceed 50K then you
may want to look into a 3rd party program or using word pad. Notepade is not
suitable for large file sizes. Windows NT does not have this issue.
After you download and install the program of your choice simply launch it
and start typing!
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SOME RECOMMENDATIONS
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There is no rules to writing text files, but these are some suggestions that
I have if you are new to text editing:
- DO NOT use word wrap, why? Simply because some programs are not designed
to
handle it by default and if the file is viewed in a web browser it will
most likely scroll off the side of the screen and will be unviewable.
Always
use enter when you are done with the end of the line.
- DO NOT exceed 79 characters per line, this is for compatibility for users
with 640x480 resolution, if it exceeds 79 characters once again some of
the characters could potentially go off the screen.
- DO NOT USE CAPS, using all caps isn't exactly eye pleasing..this is just
a personal preference use caps all you want, but not many people will like
it and it will lead to getting less viewers of you document should you
put it online.
- USE A SPELLCHECKER, it is annoying if you can't read the document because
the word is so off on spelling. Using a spellchecker ensures that most
blarring errors are corrected.
- FORMAT YOUR TEXT, again there are no laws to writing text, but if the
layout is nice people will want to read it more than if the words were
all put together in one paragraph with 300 lines. Try to make headings
stand out from the rest of the text.
- UNLESS IT IS CREATIVE ORIGNAL WORK DONT PUT LEGAL DISCLAIMERS, there is
absolutely no point for a disclaimer if it is just stating facts. Which
most text files are. Don't waste your time writing a while paragraph on
copyright information. If you need to put copyright on your work then
a simple "copyright <your name/alias> <year>" this should be sufficient.
Even if it is creative work, don't bother making a big legal disclaimer
unless the document really matters to you. Even with legal disclaimers
you will notice that people will still try to steal your work.
- REFRAIN FROM USING ALT+<NUMBER> FOR SPECIAL SYMBOLS, this is not ASCII
that is ASCII-2 which is NOT universally accepted. On top of that the
character will not appear the same on other systems.
- PUT DATES AND YOUR ALIAS ON TOP OF THE PAGE, that way the viewer can
identify
who wrote the document as well as when it was created. This shows if it
has
been updated lately or not, it also good to laugh at your own documents
when
years pass by. Without dates you don't know if it needs updating or not or
when it was created.
- TRY TO REFRAIN FROM WORD PROCESSORS, its really not that they don't create
text files right, its the fact that most of them are bulky and if you are
multi-tasking they are most likely to crash than a little notepad program
would. Plus they have more features than you are ever going to need when
making a text document. The only real function of a word processor is for
spell checking your text.
- REMEMBER THERE ARE NO LIMITATIONS, you can type whatever you wish about
whatever you wish. The limitation on content will probably depend on the
host it goes to. If you don't plan on putting it online then the host
doesn't
matter either. Hosts are fairly accepting on the context of txt files.
- MAKE THE TITLE STAND OUT, making the title stand out grabs focus to the
viewer and makes them understand what it is all about. If it doesn't the
user may not understand what the particular text file is all about.
- EMAIL ADDRESS SHOULD BE INCLUDED, this is optional..however it is
recommended that you get a free web email address for your text documents
that way you can get a better understanding of your viewers and they can
email you with comments (both negative and positive). Yes it will probably
bring in spam, but you will get legit email if many people view your
document.
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TYPES OF TEXT FILES THAT CAN BE CREATED..
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TECHNICAL HOW-TO: These explain processes, usually step-by-step on how to
do something. This is probably one of the most common
type of document.
EDUCATIONAL: These files generally take a subject and try to explain it
to the best of their knowledge.
PERSONAL: These files are of a personal nature, expressing personal views,
creating poetry, consipiracy theory, etc.
The subjects that could be discussed are virtually limitless, it doesn't
even have to make sense. So do what you want and have fun with it, this
isn't a school project it doesn't have to follow a strict code of conduct.
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ON CLOSING...
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Hopefully this will help those of you considering writing text files to
start
doing it. Remember, text files are limitless you can write about ANYTHING
your heart or mind desires ANYTHING.