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Using IRC formatting characters in Gemtext.

The original text that inspired me.

We can if all clients follow this rule:

If a client cannot display a specified type of formatting, the client simply must not display the formatting character as well.

In text imput a client display the formatting character in an obvious way, so users are aware that it was used and can edit styles by specific key sequences.

One way some IRC clients represent formatting characters is using an uppercase letter which represents the specific formatting character first letter, with their default foreground and background colors switched. For example, displaying an underline formatting character as U.

These formatting characters are the ones all IRC clients should understand.

Discard

ASCII 0x0F ^O

This formatting character discard all formatting. It removes the bold, italics, underline and strikethrough formatting, and sets the foreground and background colors back to the default for the client display. The text following this character will use or display no formatting, until other formatting characters are encountered.

Bold

ASCII 0x02 ^B

This formatting character works as a toggle. It enables bold text.

Italics

ASCII 0x1D ^]

This formatting character works as a toggle. It enables italicized text.

Underline

ASCII 0x1F ^_

This formatting character works as a toggle. It enables underlined text.

Strikethrough

ASCII 0x1E ^^

This formatting character works as a toggle. It enables strikethrough’d text.

Reverse Color

ASCII 0x16 ^V

This formatting character works as a toggle. When reverse color is enabled, the foreground and background text colors are reversed. An alternative is to highlight the background as in HTML <mark>.

Preventing Display of Formatting

Clients may allow users to prevent all or just specified formatting from displaying. This can help users that are colorblind or are visually impaired, and should be considered by client authors.