A formatting question that might sound totally strange to you

OK, I don't know if this is the right section, but I couldn't find a better one. Also, I confess that this thread is most probably the "result" of my obsessive pedantry, and the result of me being a kind of a "formatting maniac" ...


For instance, consider my software.html page. As you can see, in all cases where I link to some program's website, I use the colon character after the "strong" closing/ending tag. But the thing is that on the very same page, I also use it the other way, i.e. use the colon char before the closing tag so that it's itself bold too.


Example of one such program's link:

... <strong>BartPE</strong>: <a href="http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder" onclick="target='_blank';">http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder</a> ...

Code (markup):

Example of one such navigational text:

<strong>My various blogs:</strong>

Code (markup):

<strong>TinyURL:</strong>

Code (markup):

<strong>Disclaimer 1:</strong>

Code (markup):

So since I am a "formatting maniac" (and like things being consistent through the site/page), I've decided to use the same formatting in both cases (i.e. in case of programs and these navigational etc. texts), therefore I am curious: by various written or un-written design "standards", which option is better, and which one would you prefer personally.


thanks in advance, tayiper

 

It looks to me as if you're using the strong tag to simulate a header. If you want a header, use a header tag. That said, and if that's the case, the colon punctuates the header. Thus, <h3>My various blogs:&nbsp;&nbsp;</h3>, would be the way to go.

cheers,

gary

 

Yes, the punctuation should always be used in the style tags, <b> <strong> <h1> etc.

 

OK, thanks both for your opinions ...


tayiper

 

Urgh, now I got so many different opinions (also on other forums) that I am even more confused than before, lol ...


tayiper

 

I don't think it matters too much, if you are consistent. I would include it within a strong, h, em, or other similar tag though, because it is part of the title or category. For instance, if a book is called "Holy Crap: The Story of Saintly Dung," the first two words (including the colon) would generally be written in a larger font (such as on the front of the book) than the subtitle.

That being said, in the case of anchor tags, if only the main title is a link, then I end the link before the colon.

*shrug*

 

Hey guys, see this particular NogDog's reply on WebDeveloper forums which is very interesting, i.e. he pasted some "formatting rules" from the Chicago Manual of Style ...


tayiper

 

Looks like you could use a Dreamweaver template! It would save you a lot of time. I use it plenty for complicated pages.

 

Uhhh, well no, I am sure that it "doesn't look like this", i.e. I personally hate templates and WYSIWYG type of programs, and my site is "hand crafted" from the very beginning, and in fact, I am quite proud because of this ...


Also, I am really not sure what could possibly a Dreamweaver template have to do with these strictly formatting-related questions of mine !!


tayiper

 

It looks like you've been posting replies to a bunch of threads that are minimalistic and scarcely related. Feel free to post all you want when your comments are relevant, but posting several times a minute with one-sentence replies that contribute nothing is not useful. If all Dreamweaver templates do the formatting in question a specific way, then that could be a useful contribution. Simply saying that one could use Dreamweaver templates has nothing to do with the thread, nor does it help with the original question.