Questions tagged [formatting]
Formatting could mean the form and layout of any text or any other type of document. Formatting could also imply the preparation of storage media for accepting data. This would mean Formatting is the synonym of Formatting.
63 questions
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How to use keyboard 'icon' in markdown?
Guys, I was looking in a question when I found a different way to markup keyboard (combination of keys) to express commands. I cant found a previously answer about Markdown (except this, but not ...
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Formatting, backticks and editing
This was a concern raised in UL some time ago, but recently I've seen several cases where I've changed the use of backticks, I will ripoff strugee post from UL:
I've noticed that a lot of new users ...
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Please don't use underscores for formatting
SE Markdown supports both underscores and asterisks for marking italics and bold:
_foo_ __foo__ *foo* **foo**
foo foo foo foo
However, the SE editor (both in browsers and apps) only recognises (...
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Can't format question properly because of character limit
I have a problem with editing this question:
Upgrade to 18.04, now sudo apt-get upgrade produces loads of insserv errors
OP didn't format the terminal output (which as you can see, is really long), ...
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11
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3
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Code formatting: backticks or four spaces?
Code segments can be formatted by either starting the line with four spaces or by enclosing the code in backticks.
What is the reason for using one over the other?
The reason I ask is that my ...
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11
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2
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Should the keys be written in uppercase?
Could you please explain about the usage of keys in Ask Ubuntu? Should the keys be written in uppercase (CTRL) or only the first letter should be in uppercase(Ctrl)? Is there any difference or both of ...
user833907
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2
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Standards for editing
I've being an active member of AskUbuntu and Unix & Linux for some time now. As such, I often edit Q&As. But I'm lost in some aspects and details of specific editing standards.
This post and ...
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Using <pre> tags vs 4 space indentation
Which should be used to format a block of text in code (monospace font). I personally believe that manually indenting each line of long console output or a log file can be very slow and repetitive, so ...
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What should I do when a user persistently insists on poor formatting and resists formatting improvements?
Context: https://askubuntu.com/posts/971884/revisions
I edited an answer of a user who got distracted and forgot the Markdown syntax, using 1) instead of 1. for writing an ordered list. Therefore the ...
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Formatting a comment
Is it possible to format a comment, as in, include blockqoute like properties?
I've noticed that the help mentions that 'code' can be used for code, but it doesn't seem to make a difference.
Either ...
- 1,110
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Suggested improvements to "Markdown help" and formatting help
On Ask Ubuntu we have a lot of questions and answers that include multiple lines of terminal output which is best handled by using code fences. Without formatting, this information is difficult to ...
- 12.5k
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Code fence formatting problems to watch out for and fix
Since the start of 2019, code fences have been fully supported on Stack Exchange sites. By code fences, I mean the use of opening and closing triple backticks to format a code block. The effect of ...
ZannaMod
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3
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Unexpected formatting with code in list
I posted a answer and below some list items the code content turned to other format different from what I was expecting. I tried to indent either by code button or manually but didn't work. Is It a UI ...
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When citing another user, how should her/his username be formatted?
E.g., I sometimes use bold-italics (***text here***) because it looks alright, and provide a link to what I'm quoting/citing.
Alternatively, I could imagine to additionally linkify the username to ...
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How do you handle questions that include Ubuntu pastebin links?
Ubuntu pastebin is a nice online tool for sharing formatted text between users, especially for very large log files for a short period of time, then it expires and is permanently deleted.
Stumbling ...
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A request for all Ask Ubuntu users [duplicate]
About a week ago the Indian Government has Blocked(read Banned) a few sites,one of them is pastebin.com. I have seen a few people linking their errors to pastebin so I sincerely request them to choose ...
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What is the correct way to format search terms, button names, etc.?
What is the correct way to format terms which should be searched for or button names?
Example:
Search for "Settings"
Click on the "System Settings" button
Should an inline code span be used, "...
- 28.7k
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1
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List of "languages" to be used in "preformatted" code blocks for "Syntax Highlighting"
When I enter a "preformatted" code block in a body of Q or A, I have the option to specify the language of this code like this:
```bash
#!/bin/bash
echo "something"
sleep 10
exit
``...
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7
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2
answers
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Line break glitch with code tag
Line breaks with code involved leave a thin piece of the code formatting in the previous line:
This only seems to happen with the Opera browser (ver. 11.00/11.01).
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how to add keys symbol & and software center package link in askUbuntu answer?
I know this very dumb question in Ask Ubuntu.
I want to know how in this link the key symbols are attached in question
and in this link (in answer section 2 question) how Ubuntu software center open ...
- 5,924
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Make blockquote formatting button not destroy the source layout!
You ever had a post in front of you where the OP did mix up blockquote and code formatting? Not those easy cases where he/she wrote a > character before the paragraph himself, but those cases when ...
- 109k
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What HTML and/or Markdown code is allowed in comments?
What HTML and/or Markdown code is allowed in comments?
- 77.8k
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How do I add images to posts?
How do I add images to a question, answer or comment. When I press Images on the top panel it says something like "Images are exactly like links..." and suggests adding the link to the image. But what ...
- 1,378
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Automatically wrapping lines in Ask Ubuntu
I'm new to forums and stuff like that. I need to post my wifi-info scripts output in Ask Ubuntu using Firefox and I need to keep it as it is without wrapping any lines. As soon as copy and paste it, ...
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Transcribing syslog and preserving the line breaks
I'm trying to copy a segment of my syslog to a question here.
The problem is that all the linefeeds are lost when I do the copy, so the transcription is very difficult to read. How can I avoid this?
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How do I add files to posts?
I know how to add an image file in question post like this, but I need to add a very wide txt file and I am strugling for this.
Please, what I'm missing ?
If I click on image insertion button I can ...
- 2,101
6
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1
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How to guide readers to specific sections to a lengthy answer?
Have basically copied a wiki article as an answer to a question on main site but would like to add some form of Table of Contents at the beginning of the answer to guide readers to the part which the ...
- 1,590
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2
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matched parentheses in hyperlinks are not handled correctly
When a hyperlink contains a ( character that is matched at the end of the URL by a ) character, AskUbuntu should recognize that the final ) character is part of the URL. However, currently that is not ...
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How should I paste from my terminal?
I am aware of the editing help topic, but I'm still not sure how I am supposed to format the text I copy/pasted from my terminal.
I want to be able to share these details from my terminal and I want ...
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How should sequential clicks/menu items be formatted?
What should the separator be?
System > Preferences > Keyboard > Layouts > Apply System-Wide
System → Preferences → Keyboard → Layouts → Apply System-Wide
System --> Preferences --> Keyboard --> ...
- 77.8k
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Use ISO 8601 or some localized format to display question, answer, edit, and comment dates instead of the "customary" M/D/Y
Date stamps are shown in a non-standardised format "mmm d 'yy":
When you hover the pointer over the date, you get title text showing the date and time in ISO 8601 standard format: "yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:...
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How to do code formatting within numbering or bullets?
When doing editing, in certain places I find difficulties to format codes those are within Numbering and Bullets.
Example is this. What I did was cut and paste the line which needs code formatting to ...
user224082
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Has <key> been disabled?
I've noticed I'm not able to use key button formatting like <key>ESC</key>.
Has it been disabled? And if yes, why?
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Why does SE mess with the spacing in code blocks?
Why do code blocks delete double-spaces? Double-spaces are required in some code. Code blocks should not alter the text in them at all, because code sometimes has weird formatting.
Example: compare ...
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How do I escape backticks in a backticks command?
I found: "How do I escape backticks in a comment?", but I want to escape backticks, if I use backticks to format code in an answer.
The following doesn't work:
`sudo update-initramfs -v -u -k \`...
- 14.4k
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How to properly add code in comment
How can I properly add a line of code in a comment like this
test test
I like it more grey than test test if that is possible.
Or if there is another way to define code in a comment to make it ...
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Is this syntax highlighting intended behavior or a bug?
I came across an answer earlier today which had code blocks containing some text portions in blue. Below is a screenshot of the beginning of the answer for convenience:
I have never seen this before, ...
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How do I use the grey formatting in a comment? [duplicate]
Someone showed me (by editing my question for me) how to make some of your
text show up grey to show it is code.
Now I need to know how to do it in a comment.
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Descenders in comments chopped off in Windows Chrome
In my browser (Chrome 29 on Windows 7), descenders are chopped off in comments, which makes it fairly annoying to read, as g's look like q's (most other letters with descenders are fairly unambiguous, ...
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Should abbreviations and acronyms be discouraged?
Sometimes, a question is not clear simply because it contains an abbreviation or acronym that a reader doesn't understand. I wonder if the instructions should encourage the definition of these things ...
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Is the <blockquote> tag working correctly on Ask Ubuntu?
I've been trying to use the <blockquote> tag to include literal output in this forum, but I cannot get it to work for me. My understanding is that if a chunk of text is surrounded by the <...
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How to find posts with html tags like <code>
I keep finding things with the <code> tag or the <pre> tag instead of four spaces or inline code formatting. I want to find these and fix them, replacing them with the better code ...
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Why are people using Quotes instead of Code?
We use the dollar sign link for code and the " for quotes right, Why am I seeing code formated as quotes? One example is this answer https://askubuntu.com/posts/146792/revisions
I have heard that ...
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Formatting guideline / convention for program names, commands, strings, values, (...)?
I usually highlight anything that should stick out from regular statements like a program name, a command, a string or a value by enclosing it between backticks, while I usually highlight something ...
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Why does the little help box call them "backticks" when they're graves?
I've noticed that when the little help box appears to the side, it says to show code using "backticks" when they are called graves. For clarification, I am talking about these: `. I don't think that ...
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How do I format my code that it will be wrapped in a box with horizontal scrolling?
Usually when I need to post an error output or any code I use blockquotes and place the entire thing there. On two occasions my code has been edited and formatted in a way that it can be seen in a box ...
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How do we create letters with dash over them? (strikethrough or strikeout)
a) With GNU/Linux OS & Ubuntu in general in text editors
b) Specifically for askubuntu.com as to imply that the text is deleted (edited later)
c) or as an html formatting in a broader sense.
...
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How do I put scrollable preformatted / code blocks in my question?
This may seem like a simple question, but how do I put a box of scrollable code or preformatted text in my question or comment on AskUbuntu?
It would be great if this question and the answer ...
- 111
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HTML in questions but not comments?
Why is it that we can use HTML markup and entities in questions but not in comments? Shouldn't they be the same?
Testing markdown here, italic, bold... well, that seems to work.
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Code tag/code highlight problem in sub-comment on askUbuntu mainpage
I am wondering, why code tag and bold text option which both work perfectly fine in full comments doesn't work in sub-comments, like shown in the screenshot below, using the same syntax?!
Sometimes, ...
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