<body><script type="text/javascript"> function setAttributeOnload(object, attribute, val) { if(window.addEventListener) { window.addEventListener('load', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }, false); } else { window.attachEvent('onload', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }); } } </script> <div id="navbar-iframe-container"></div> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> gapi.load("gapi.iframes:gapi.iframes.style.bubble", function() { if (gapi.iframes && gapi.iframes.getContext) { gapi.iframes.getContext().openChild({ url: 'https://www.blogger.com/navbar.g?targetBlogID\x3d12988030\x26blogName\x3dDon\x27t+Trust+Snakes\x26publishMode\x3dPUBLISH_MODE_BLOGSPOT\x26navbarType\x3dBLUE\x26layoutType\x3dCLASSIC\x26searchRoot\x3dhttps://donttrustsnakes.blogspot.com/search\x26blogLocale\x3den_US\x26v\x3d2\x26homepageUrl\x3dhttp://donttrustsnakes.blogspot.com/\x26vt\x3d-4673447362931781663', where: document.getElementById("navbar-iframe-container"), id: "navbar-iframe", messageHandlersFilter: gapi.iframes.CROSS_ORIGIN_IFRAMES_FILTER, messageHandlers: { 'blogger-ping': function() {} } }); } }); </script>


DON’T

TRUST

SNAKES

“I know where I'm headed.”
ROGER THORNHILL


« Home »


Monday, February 20, 2006

The Don't Trust Snakes Manual of Style

Thanks to (a) my lovingly massaged template, (b) common sense and (c) a youth misspent collecting and reading usage books, most of the style and formatting issues here take care of themselves, with very few exceptions, viz. (and you thought I was kidding about (c)):
  1. Bullets for unordered lists

    • These should always be square.
    • Square bullets just look better to me for some reason.
    • At least in this blog they do.

  2. Extracted quotations

    The rules for extracted quotations have evolved from the generally ad hoc approach I took early in the life of the blog, and they may still be evolving. My goals are readability and consistency, in that order. Regardless of other treatment, extracted quotes are always block indented.

    • Stand-alone quotes. These are typically literary quotes appearing under a post heading like "Today's Quote." They are set off by quotation marks and the source citation appears on its own line below the quote, centered, and does not typically include a hyperlink.

      For example:
      "I have seen thee in her and I do adore thee:
      My mistress show'd me thee and thy dog and thy bush."
      - William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act II, Scene 2

    • Quotes used epigrammatically. These are typically literary quotes introducing whatever pointless meanderings I've seen fit to lapse into. They are set off by quotation marks and the source appears directly after the quote, not on its own line. The source citation is unlikely to include more than the source's name and does not include a hyperlink.

      For example:
      "You jump in front of my car when you / You know all the time that /
      Ninety miles an hour, girl, is the speed I drive" - Jimi Hendrix
      "What's gotten into Seattle's pedestrians lately? And by lately I mean at the times when I've been driving my car during the last eleven years. Blah blah blah monorail incompetent tiresome blah blah film cameras."

    • Quotes from topical or background material, usually leading into a discussion of that material. These are typically a key paragraph from a news or feature story that has piqued my blogging interest. These are not set off by quotation marks (seems excessive for some reason). The source cite appears on the same line includes a hyperlink. If the source is something commonly recognizable as a newspaper, magazine, online magazine, etc., that name is rendered in normal Roman type and typically makes up the hotlink. On the other hand, something like Lögberg-Heimskringla or Äripäev would be rendered in italics.

      For example:
      Abbas has sought peace talks with Israel since his election a year ago, and there is nothing to prevent direct talks with him, even if Hamas does not soon take the ultimately inevitable steps of renouncing violence and recognizing Israel's right to exist. - Jimmy Carter, "Don't Punish the Palestinians," Washington Post February 20, 2006.
      Yes, don't punish the Palestinians for electing representatives of an unrepentant terrorist organization to a majority of seats in their parliament. It would be ludicrous and unjust to punish a nation and its citizens for the choices they made at the ballot box. The voters themselves bear no responsibility for whom they elect. And, anyway, it is inevitable that Hamas will renounce violence. Just look at any other radical group with a crazy, extremist ideology that obtained power through elective means. Did not all of them inevitably renounce violence?


posted at 3:31 PM

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home