What's the good (or -Perfect) Word -- avoiding questionable characters at Epinions
Sep 26 '02 (Updated Oct 03 '02)
The Bottom Line With a few simple commands, you can prevent your word processor from generating questionable characters in your reviews. Here's how.
It's frequently recommended that you use a word processor with a spell check to create a review -- not only because of the superior spell checker, but so you can save a local copy of your review in case Epinions loses it. I won't go further into the reasons for this, except to say that I STRONGLY agree.
For those of you using Word or WordPerfect as your Epinions text editor, here are some tips to avoid having your characters turn to question marks or boxes when viewed. I will give detailed command sequences for WordPerfect® 6 for Windows® (which I use at home, at the moment) and Word® 97 for Windows® (which I use at work). It's likely that similar sequences will work in other word processors. (The question mark you may see in this line is the Registered Trademark symbol frequently indicated by (r).)
Prevention
To prevent your word processor from generating strange characters which will not be rendered properly, you need to turn off the features which generate such characters:
In Word 97, select Tools / AutoCorrect:
1. In the AutoCorrect Tab:
1A. delete all AutoCorrect sequences which generate smilies, and optionally delete the conversion from (c) to ©, (r) to ®, and (tm) to ™. If there's a way of turning off AutoCorrect entirely, that would be another option.
2. In the AutoFormat As You Type Tab
2A. In the Apply as you type section: uncheck Borders, Automatic bulleted lists, and Automatic number lists. Tables is unlikely to apply, but if you are writing a review of Word mentioning that feature, uncheck that also.
2B. In the Replace as you type section:
2B1. Uncheck "Straight quotes" with "smart quotes"
2B2. Uncheck Fractions (1/2) with fraction character (½) (although this might work for 1/2 with most browsers, but 1/4 and 3/4 are missing from many character sets)
2B3. Uncheck Symbol characters (--) with symbols (–)
2B4. Uncheck *Bold* and _underline_ with real formatting
2B5. Uncheck Internet and network paths with hyperlinks (probably a good idea in any case)
3. In the AutoFormat Tab, uncheck the entries corresponding to the ones mentioned in the AutoFormat As You Type if you USE the AutoFormat feature.
In WordPerfect 6, select Tools / QuickCorrect
1. Uncheck Replace Words as You Type (or delete any of the corresponding conversions listed under item 1A in Word).
2. Under the Option button, uncheck Turn on Single Quotes and Turn on Double Quotes. (Analogous to item 2B1 in Word).
Repair/detection
If you didn't do this when you created your document, you can still eliminate all non-ANSI characters, so you can see what you need to change, by using the following command sequences:
WordPerfect 6:
Edit / Select / All
Edit / Copy
Edit / Paste Special / Unformatted Text
Word 97:
Edit / Select All
Edit / Copy
Edit / Paste Special / Unformatted Text
Alternatively, you can copy the review (using the first two commands of each of those sequences) and paste it into a Notepad window, before copying and pasting into the Epinions window.
Bold and italics usage
If you're going to convert the word processor's bold and italics fonts to the corresponding HTML sequences <B>bold</B> and <I>italics</I>, you'll need to create macros, which I'm not going to go in to here. If you enter the HTML sequences directly, it's important to balance them to avoid having the formatting run like this to the end of the review.
The bottom line
This applies not only to the text of your review, but to the title, Bottom Line, pros, cons, and any other free-format text fields (such as Favorite menu item for restaurant reviews) that Epinions allows you to enter in your reviews.
It also applies, with more HTML flexibility, to your profile page.
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Epinions.com ID:
Arthur.Rubin
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 in Personal Finance |
 in Personal Finance |
 - Top 500 |
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Member: Arthur Rubin
Location: Brea, CA, USA
Reviews written: 97
Trusted by: 109 members
About Me:
Expert in mathematics, computers, income tax, with a wide variety of interests.
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