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Bullet points - again

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 5:37 pm
by kassiesamp
HI

I am new here and wonder whether someone more experienced could give me some additional guidance in relation to the use of bullet points. (I have read a number of prior posts on the topic.)

May I indent bullet points as per below:

"Here are 5 smart tips for healthy living through better nutrition, based on recent research and recommended dietary guidelines.

• Eat breakfast: By definition, breakfast breaks the fast of the previous night. Yet the proportion of Americans, both children and adults, who regularly eat breakfast has declined over recent decades, possibly as a result of our increasingly busy lifestyles."

Actually, this is not how my passage looks in Word where the sentences would be indented and line up under one another! Are indented bullets ie bullet points created using the Word automatic bullet point function permissible?

Or should the format be like this? In fact, would the format below (with no indentation) make things more straightforward when it comes to online submission?

"Here are 5 smart tips for healthy living through better nutrition, based on recent research and recommended dietary guidelines.

• Eat breakfast: By definition, breakfast breaks the fast of the previous night. Yet the proportion of Americans, both children and adults, who regularly eat breakfast has declined over recent decades, possibly as a result of our increasingly busy lifestyles."

When setting out information under bullet points, do the bullet points have to be numbered? And, if so, is there any particular convention that should be adhered to eg 1) or 1.?

On another note, is there a way to spell check posts? I can't see one and can't even make headings eg "Eat breakfast" appear in bold; all that happens is that the coding appears around the relevant words.

And, finally, how often do full stops tend to be used in Web writing? I have been taught to omit full stops to reduce keystrokes; thus, I would type eg rather than e.g.? Is this acceptable?

Thanking you,

Karen

Re: Bullet points - again

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 2:39 am
by BarryDavidson
If I'm remembering correctly the first is correct.
• Eat breakfast: By definition, breakfast breaks the fast of the previous night. Yet the proportion of Americans, both children and adults, who regularly eat breakfast has declined over recent decades, possibly as a result of our increasingly busy lifestyles.
Be careful with semicolons. Most people don't know how they're properly used, and editors tend to just throw them back at you.

You don't have to number the bullet lists - just don't indent them. I will sometimes copy/paste a portion that's being difficult to notepad to get rid of the formatting, and then put it back in word.

I've seen both ways of numbering used here.

I would type the full e.g. if I used it. I tend to use for example. For example: The bird has flown.

There is no spell checker on CC. You can download a program called ieSpell if you want one.

Re: Bullet points - again

Posted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 1:44 pm
by kassiesamp
Thank you Barry.

I will dispense with the indenting. It does make life simpler. I can see I will have a learning curve not only in trying to produce a draft (content) but in ensuring the formatting stays consistent when material is uploaded.

I have some experience in the difficulties that can creep in when writing in Word and then uploading into Blogger so hopefully that will help.

On the whole though, Constant Content's formatting requirements are very straighforward.

Regards,
Karen

Re: Bullet points - again

Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 3:42 pm
by BarryDavidson
I had more than a few rejections when I first started because of formatting problems with Word. I used to copy/paste all my articles into Notepad before copying them onto the site.

I'd write an article about setting up your default settings in Word 2010, but without pictures it doesn't mean much to most people.