A Lesson on Line Breaks <br>

Somebody asked about line breaks in another thread, so maybe it's a good time for another lesson - as has been said above, the HTML line break is:

<br>

I realize that you can double-space between stanzas or paragraphs with one paragraph <p> mark, but I strongly encourage Mudcatteers to use two line breaks <br><br> instead. The paragraph marks make things look right here in the forum - however, if you post a song with the stanzas separated with paragraph marks and somebody tries to copy it and paste it into a word processor, the spaces between the stanzas disappear and the song gets jumbled together.

When you're posting in Mudcat, there are two shortcuts that will allow you to put in your line breaks and type the <br> line break tag only once: copy-and-paste, and the "replace" function of your word processor.
The easier shortcut to learn is copy-and-paste. You highlight whatever it is you want to copy (<br> in this case), copy it, and then paste it wherever you want it. All of those fancy HTML tags Dan Mulligan posted at the top of this thread can be copied and pasted into Mudcat Forum threads. Copy-and-paste has three steps:

Highlight the test you want to copy. Put your mouse at the beginning of the text, click and hold the mouse button, and move the mouse to the end of the text and then release the button. The selected text should change color. I prefer not to use the mouse, so I highlight by depressing the shift key and using arrows and other directional keys (home, end, page up, page down) to highlight. These keyboard shortcuts are usually faster than using the mouse.

Copy the text. With the mouse cursor on the highlighted text, push the right mouse button and select "copy" from the menu that pops up, or go to "edit" at the top of your browser and select "copy." The keyboard shortcut is really easy: CTRL-C (on a Mac, the CTRL key is the one with the symbol that looks kind of like a square daisy).

Paste the text where you want it. Put the mouse cursor where you want the text, push that right mouse button, and select "paste" from the menu that pops up (or go to "edit" and then "paste" at the top of your browser). The nifty keyboard shortcut is CTRL-V.

That's all there is to it. Highlight, copy, and then paste. This works in almost all Windows and Mac applications, so it's a very useful thing to learn. It's expecially helpful for copying those long Internet addresses (URLs) that you come across - just highlight the URL in the address bar of your browser, and copy and paste it wherever you want it.

The Replace method is a function of your word processor, and you have to adjust it to fit the particular quirks of your favorite word processor. I use Microsoft Word for typing lyrics, and it works very well. Once I have the lyrics typed and saved, I go to the Edit menu at the top of my screen, and select Replace. A box opens up, and I make sure my cursor is in the Find what space in that box. Then I go to Special at the bottom of the box and select Paragraph mark a carat and the letter p appear in the Find what space. Then I move my cursor to the Replace with space and go to Special and select another Paragraph mark. Then I put a line break symbol <br> in the Replace with space, and then I hit the Replace All button at the side of the box. Presto-changeo, a beautifully-formatted song appears on my screen, ready to be highlighted and copy-and-pasted into the Mudcat Forum.

All this is a lot easier to do than it is to explain. Experiment a bit, and you'll find it's pretty easy. If you goof up, a friendly Joe or Joe Clone will be there to help.

-Joe Offer-