deepseadiva
Bodybuilding Magical Girl
Link to original post: [drupal=2376]I'm Spending Too Much on Tourniquets for my Eyes[/drupal]
Having your posts stick out can be somewhat of a difficult task. Not all of us are talented or well known Smashers, and even less of us have anything meaningful to say! When this happens, we only have one way to make our posts noticeable: special colors, fun fonts, and other text adjustments!
Unfortunately, the search for originality has resulted in a somewhat MySpace-afication of the SWF. I'd like to offer some tips and advice on various elements.
COLOR
Color is highly important; it is seen even before the words are read. Overall it is mainly personal preference, but it helps to be aware of the surroundings your posts are read. There are three public skins with two different background colors. Basically two shades of gray (one shade will appear invisible):
FONT
Realize that some fonts don't work well when used as body text. For example, Century Gothic and Impact are very superficial and in Impact's case, somewhat unreadable. They're much better suited for headers and titles. Fonts such as Garamond and Arial work much better as body due to their readability and lack of superfluousness. Nothing is wrong with originality and flair, but your font choice should be a background element that compliments your writings, not the center focus.
Also, don't ever use Comic Sans. I will cut you.
SIZE
ALIGNMENT
Just a usual rule of thumb, unless it's a poem - don't "center" your posts.
Text aligned to the right should be used incredibly sparingly.
PICTURES
This is just my personal opinion, but if I have to read posts hugged inside Lucky Charm shapes or pictures of foxes, I usually don't. The pictures usually throw off the spacing between the lines which makes it a hassle to read.
I personally print out and burn posts which have pictures at the end of each sentence.
EXAMPLES
Terrible post which is skipped:
Quote:
Later that night, my brother and I thought it would be a good idea to go and get a Gatorade before our bike ride, and we chose to walk to the Fantasy's, in the dark. We left the house, opened the garage door and started walking.
Fantastic post which is loved by all:
Quote:
Later that night, my brother and I thought it would be a good idea to go and get a Gatorade before our bike ride, and we chose to walk to the Fantasy's, in the dark. We left the house, opened the garage door and started walking.
And yes, this is heavily aimed at you people.
Having your posts stick out can be somewhat of a difficult task. Not all of us are talented or well known Smashers, and even less of us have anything meaningful to say! When this happens, we only have one way to make our posts noticeable: special colors, fun fonts, and other text adjustments!
Unfortunately, the search for originality has resulted in a somewhat MySpace-afication of the SWF. I'd like to offer some tips and advice on various elements.
COLOR
Color is highly important; it is seen even before the words are read. Overall it is mainly personal preference, but it helps to be aware of the surroundings your posts are read. There are three public skins with two different background colors. Basically two shades of gray (one shade will appear invisible):
- Revolution
- Smash Blue & Classic Blue
FONT
Realize that some fonts don't work well when used as body text. For example, Century Gothic and Impact are very superficial and in Impact's case, somewhat unreadable. They're much better suited for headers and titles. Fonts such as Garamond and Arial work much better as body due to their readability and lack of superfluousness. Nothing is wrong with originality and flair, but your font choice should be a background element that compliments your writings, not the center focus.
Also, don't ever use Comic Sans. I will cut you.
SIZE
- This sentence has been changed to size one.
- This sentence has not been changed at all.
- This sentence has been changed to size two.
ALIGNMENT
Just a usual rule of thumb, unless it's a poem - don't "center" your posts.
Text aligned to the right should be used incredibly sparingly.
PICTURES
This is just my personal opinion, but if I have to read posts hugged inside Lucky Charm shapes or pictures of foxes, I usually don't. The pictures usually throw off the spacing between the lines which makes it a hassle to read.
I personally print out and burn posts which have pictures at the end of each sentence.
EXAMPLES
Terrible post which is skipped:
Quote:
Fantastic post which is loved by all:
Quote:
Later that night, my brother and I thought it would be a good idea to go and get a Gatorade before our bike ride, and we chose to walk to the Fantasy's, in the dark. We left the house, opened the garage door and started walking.
