Does it help you read a post when quotes are color-coded?

[Rekali the Hutt]

A lot of writers like to color code what their character is speaking. It's a trend I never really caught on to, but started thinking about for whatever reason today. I have mixed feeling about it, because sometimes it helps the text "pop" which is nice but can detract from the rest of the text, or sometimes with a darker color it's difficult to read against the black background of the text. I know one writer in particular that did this in order to simulate his character's tone, which was generally a quiet whisper. I found that one particularly clever, but other than that I can't decide how I feel about it and whether or not if I did so it would help other writers get through my posts easier.

So what are your general opinions?

 

[Judah Dashiell]

Depends on my character. I've been using a lot of NPCs, so I will color-code their text while leaving mine the normal color. Same for written(text style) messages, I may do bold and italics to set it apart. My goal is just trying to make it easier on the reader so there isn't any confusion later.

 

[Alric Kuhn]

Yes.

It helps differentiate speaking which aside from written body language is really one of the only things your character should really get from the other person. Also if there is an NPC speaking in the post it helps if they're speaking in a different color, again, to differentiate.

 

[Vora Kaar]

[member="Rekali the Hutt"], I know that there have been times in the past where people would play a character that had a voice in their head, and their own voice, and would use different colors to show which one was speaking, with a legend in their signature. Or others who had inseparable twins, and their voices were different colors.

I color my words because, 1, bish, I'm fablious! 2, it makes it easier to tell when I am talking, instead of putting quotation marks that might confuse the reader. Just depends.

 

[Joza Perl]

I do it, feel like it makes things easier to read. NPCs usually get colored or bolded text if I'm not being lazy. Also for aesthetics, because I feel that a little color breaks things up nicely

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

On a PC screen it's very helpful.

So yes.

 

[Rekali the Hutt]

[member="Zephyr Carrick"]

I'll generally italicize whatever my character is thinking, or bold/font size up when he's screaming or there's a big boom somewhere, but I don't generally color. I suppose mostly because I'm lazy, and it's either a longer code thing [*insert letter here*] and I hate manually clicking to format.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

[member="Rekali the Hutt"] As a reference, this is how I do things because it's easiest for me.

Internal thoughts my character have are written in italics and first person.

My characters speaking are written "in quotes with color." Each character of mine has a different color.

NPC's speaking are written "in quotes with a different color." I make sure that the color for each NPC is different, and that it isn't being used by my writing partner.

This is just personal preference. When someone has their character speak and doesn't use colors, I sometimes miss something they've said and mistaken it for an internal monologue or just more information.

Edit: "Quotes with colors and italics or bold are for emphasis, either enunciation, sarcasm or anger."

 

[Darth Metus]

Yes. All my yes.

On the screen of an iPhone, color coded quotes are a god sent.

 

[Rusty]

Depends on who's doing the writing, and who's doing the formatting.

Folks who are good at consistently color coding everything in a way that's both clear and pleasing to the eye are a godsend. For people like me who are terrible at color coordination, it's probably best just to try to write as clearly as possible.

 

[Klesta]

Yes. My PCs' speech are in green text within quotes, and if it belongs to a codexed NPC, in a different color (usually red for the first one I introduce, then orange); if it is a NPC without a codex entry, no colored text.

 

[Bhaltair Dhimani]

[member="Rekali the Hutt"]

Yes, definitely.

 

[Reverance]

Yep. I prefer it just because it helps set it apart from the narrative and is often visually appealing. Every character I have has a specific color they stick to and NPC's are offset with a different color.

 

[Ellie Mors]

I use the color to reflect the "color" of my character's personality. For example, Lily is pink and Lisette is cyan. The color itself represents their dominant personality traits (Lily is, usually, more outgoing, sometimes bubbly, and extremely focused on her looks and appearance; Lisette, in contrast, is a bit more tomboyish, quiet, solemn, etc).

The use of colors is, of course, to differentiate the speaking dialogue from the actual body of the post (so it's not grey on grey, making it hard to miss), but it has nothing to do with thinking versus speaking to me.

I usually do thoughts in 'Such a manner.' and a speaking "In such a manner." to utilize italics and single quotation marks for thoughts and plain (not bold, italics, etc) with double quotations for speaking text. I might utilize italics and bold text, sometimes underlined too, for specific words meant to convey a tone of voice within speaking dialogue, but never/rarely the entire block of text.

So, generally speaking, yes.

 

[Liliane]

Colour codes are life.

It makes the speech stand out, making it easy to refer to it and stuff.

I personally use a simple theme with my colour codes and coding in general. I am not going to go into full detail with this, cause some things must be personal as well, but here is the general style I prefer.

"My character's speech is a colour coded regular text." The colour of the text depends on several things, such as alignment (Darksiders lean towards the red end of the colour spectrum, Lightsiders towards the blue end. Colours in between indicate an ambiguous, troubled or confused character), personality (characters who are more straightforward and 'open books' have more of a lighter colour, secretive and brooding characters have a darker colour), and some character plans/secrets I won't reveal yet (I won't talk about this much. Just know that all grey text and generally weird themes have a meaning.).

"My NPC's speech is a colour coded italic text." NPCs' texts also depend on their alignment, but most of the time they are a light airy shade of the colour. Most of these colours are random, though. Some certain NPCs have a set colour, such as my SCNN NPCs.

 

[Kana Truden]

Color-schmolor. Too much effort.

Just copy-paste from G-Doc, Mark all, remove all formatting, tag people, submit.

Move on to the next thread.

 

[Zeradias Mant]

Color is a very strong personal preference of mine. Not only is it aesthetically pleasing, but also functional (as the so many people above have attested to). I use bold and colors to denote speech and italics for thoughts or another language. Colors help immensely in distinguishing who is speaking also.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

Color-schmolor. Too much effort.

Just copy-paste from G-Doc, Mark all, remove all formatting, tag people, submit.

Move on to the next thread.

[member="Kana Truden"] - LIAR LIAR PANTS ON FIRE

http://starwarsrp.net/topic/47463-a-blue-milk-run/

 

[Kana Truden]

[member="Jamie Pyne"]

I've change, baby. I am a new man. One who lacks color and taste. I'm like the food in the school cafeteria, only slightly better.

 

[Jamie Pyne]

[member="Kana Truden"]

I've change

For the worse.

I'm disappointed in you. You've disappointed us all.